Inclusion Round-Up | February 2023

Contents:

• LGBT+ History Month
• Collective experiences and trauma
• Invisible disabilities in education and employment

LGBT+ History Month

February is LGBT+ History Month, and this year the theme was ‘behind the lens’, looking beyond the media representation to celebrate all the LGBTQ+ individuals who contribute to bringing us stories and content, from costume designers to writers to cinematographers and more, to see past the carefully crafted stories we see on screen.

A colleague said in an LGBT+ History Month webinar recently that he felt that LGBTQ+ kids today don’t seem to be having any better of a time than they did when he was in school. As a queer person myself, this thought made me very sad indeed, but I couldn’t argue differently. While we might see more and more LGBTQ+ representation on television, we need to remember that 2023 has already been a tough year for the LGBTQ+ community, especially for our trans siblings.

Social justice for the LGBTQ+ community can often feel like two steps forward and two steps back. We saw what could have been a joyous moment when the Scottish government passed its Gender Recognition Reform Bill, giving many more freedoms to trans people and youth in Scotland, only to have it blocked by the UK government. We are seeing an escalation of violence against trans people and trans youth every day and attempts to ban life-saving care and silence LGBTQ+ stories across the globe.

I think it’s all too easy to see shows like Drag Race on the screen and believe that we as an LGBTQ+ community have made leaps in progress, but I urge you to look ‘beyond the lens’ to understand the challenges still to face and encourage you to be extra mindful of your trans colleagues. Our Transgender Inclusion Guide contains lots of information to help you be as inclusive as possible for trans indviduals. You may find our LGBT+ History Month Factsheet and resources signposting doc useful too.

Collective experiences and trauma

On a related topic, we delivered a webinar on ‘collective trauma’ this month and the impact this can have on burnout in your teams. In this context, collective trauma refers to the traumatic events experienced and their impacts on specific communities.

When I think of this term, a myriad of situations come to mind. What we have all experienced collectively as a global community is the pandemic. While this might seem like a thing of the past, unfortunately, it isn’t. Disabled and immune-compromised people still have to maintain many of the same protections, long covid is rife, and reports suggest the more times you contract covid, the more significant impact this has on your overall and long-term health. Awareness of how much this is still impacting people in your teams is essential.

Beyond this, as mentioned above, the trans and LGBTQ+ community are witnessing violence and hate regularly; we hear and see violence happening to the Black community every day, violence against women is becoming more visible, the cost of living crisis seems to be continually worsening, the war continues to rage in multiple places, and natural disasters are taking the lives of tens of thousands and destroying the homes and livelihoods of millions more with the floods in Pakistan last year and the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria this month.

Being aware of what’s happening in the world and of who in your team this might be impacting and the intersectionality of their identities is essential for workplace wellbeing. You can’t respond to every piece of news that comes through, but where you can check in on your colleagues, offer space to talk about these events if they need it and ask if there’s anything you can do to support them. These actions are crucial to individuals feeling seen and safe at work.

Invisible disabilities in education and employment

A new research briefing issued by the UK parliamentary office of science and technology highlights the challenges and lacking policy around ‘invisible’ or non-visible disabilities. It shows that this results in exclusionary education and workplace practices which prevent those with non-visible disabilities from fully being able to participate or face significant challenges if they do.

Unemployment in disabled communities is higher than the average, and wages are lower. The data shows that over 1 in 5 UK adults are disabled, with 70-80% of those disabilities being non-visible – including but not limited to neurodivergence, sensory disability such as hearing or sight loss, mental health conditions or energy-limiting conditions (e.g. fibromyalgia).

You are statistically likely to work alongside a disabled colleague even if you don’t know that you are. Many individuals are scared to disclose this information for fear of being discriminated against or not believed.

How do you help and what is the solution to removing these barriers?

On an individual scale, don’t make assumptions about any one person’s capacity, check in on your unconscious bias and be mindful that a disability is not always visible and offer accommodations where needed without question.

On an organisational level, consider that if we do not know all who identify as disabled within the organisation, then surely the best approach is to make all aspects of the job and organisation more accessibility friendly at all stages of the employee life cycle (recruitment, onboarding, training, retention, progression)?

This would then allow more access for individuals without having to ask or make their disability known if they don’t want to disclose it, and in turn, may even make the workplace a much safer space where people feel that they can open up and share about their identity. This could include training and raising awareness, but also think about physical and non-physical adjustments, sensory considerations, ease of access to information and updated and truly inclusive policies.

Adjustment passports have also been considered a key part of the inclusion strategy set out in the report.

This is timely, as more and more people are identifying with and being diagnosed with neurodivergence in adult life. Setting a standard of inclusion and accessibility now will allow those with non-visible disabilities to thrive, especially if they are only just learning about their disability – how can they ask for accommodations when there is no societal blueprint, and they may be unsure of what they need?

As someone with neurodivergence, it is scary to expose yourself. Non-visible disabilities have such a stigma attached, but through the knowledge and understanding of my colleagues and manager, and through completing an adjustment passport without judgement, I felt I could start to let those walls down little by little. As time has passed, I’ve been able to proudly sit in my neurodivergence, be honest about my struggles and receive support, but have my strengths recognised and celebrated too.

Read more about non-visible disabilities in our Disability Package Guide or come along to our Non-Visible Disabilities webinar.

Closing thoughts

I suppose all of the above is simply a call to action to be more mindful – think about the people you are working with, their needs, the intersectionality of their identities, what might be impacting them and what you can offer to support. Additionally, continue to challenge your conscious and unconscious bias and approach every situation with the humility that you have more to learn.

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