Tag Archives: disability

Disability, Diversity & Inclusion, Midlands News, News, Recruitment News

Birmingham businesses invited to meet disabled jobseekers at accessible job fair

18 April 2024 – Local businesses, including employers and recruiters, are invited to meet disabled job hunters and career switchers at Sense’s Pan Disability Job Fair in Selly Oak next month.

The annual job fair, which has been running since 2022, provides an accessible, supportive environment for employers to meet disabled jobseekers. National disability charity Sense, which runs the two-day event, will provide communication support for all attendees, including BSL interpreters, scribers and sight guides. Employers and recruiters will also be supported through training on awareness and accessibility, including how to ensure your stand is as accessible as possible. The event is free for both employers and jobseekers.

The job fair will be held at Sense TouchBase Pears, as part of the charity’s mission to support more disabled people into work and defeat the 29 per cent employment gap* between disabled people and the overall population.

Last year, more than 30 employers exhibited at the job fair, which was attended by more than 230 jobseekers. One of those exhibitors was Starbucks. Lindsay Townsend, Store Manager at West Bromwich Starbucks Store said:

“Last year, our West Bromwich and New Street Store teams attended the Sense Pan Disability Job Fair to help disabled jobseekers find meaningful employment in the local community. This forms part of our wider commitment to creating a culture of warmth and belonging in our stores, providing an environment that is accessible for everyone. Our store team members spent the day talking to attendees about job opportunities at Starbucks, supporting people to secure employment last year. We are attending again this year and we look forward to supporting more people to find meaningful employment in local businesses.”

Electrical and digital infrastructure company Legrand also attended the job fair last year. Monique Fearon, Regional HR Manager at Legrand, said:

“Legrand’s participation in the Sense Pan Disability Job Fair last year not only helped us connect with disabled jobseekers and build relationships with companies such as Queen Alexandra College and the DWP, it also gave our brand significant exposure to a new talent pool, further enhancing our reputation as an inclusive and socially responsible organisation. This is such an invaluable event for everyone involved, and we look forward to participating again this year.”

The job fair is hosted by Sense’s employment team, who run a specialist employment service helping people with complex disabilities and those who are deafblind into work. The team recently ran its first ever accessible job fair in Leicestershire, in Sense’s new hub in Loughborough. Employers in attendance included Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, Loughborough University and Leicestershire Police.

Zoe Bates, Employment Co-Ordinator at Sense, said:

“Sense’s Pan Disability Job Fair is a fantastic opportunity for employers to engage with disabled jobseekers, and to see the amazing potential that they have. This will be our third year running the event, and in the past two years we’ve had hundreds of disabled jobseekers through the doors. Jobseekers have built some great connections with local employers, securing opportunities like voluntary work experience and paid work too.

“Employers have fed back to us that they really appreciate the opportunity to engage with local jobseekers and that our service helps to bridge the gap between disabled jobseekers and employment. We’re warmly welcoming applications from employers to attend the event so please get in touch if you’d like more information.”

The Pan Disability Job Fair in Birmingham will take place on 14-15 May 2024, from 10am-3pm. Registrations for employers are open with more information on the charity’s website: https://www.sense.org.uk/our-services/education-and-work/employment-support-people-with-complex-disabilities/pan-disability-job-fair-2024/  

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References:

*According to OS Data, Employment of disabled people 2023, published 26 October 2023, the disability employment rate was 53.6% in Q2 2023, compared to 82.5% for non-disabled people.

About Sense:

Sense is a national disability charity that supports people living with complex disabilities, including those who are deafblind, to communicate and experience the world. Sense supports children, young people and adults in their home and in the community, in their education and transition to adulthood and through its holidays, arts, sports and wellbeing programmes. In addition to practical support to families, Sense also offers information advice, short breaks and family events, and campaigns for the rights of people with complex disabilities to take part in life. For more information, please visit http://www.sense.org.uk.

 

News

Recruitment specialist partners with charity to help people with complex disabilities learn skills, build confidence and find work

People with complex disabilities are receiving support to learn new skills, build their confidence and find employment, thanks to an ongoing partnership between the national disability charity, Sense, and recruitment specialist, Pertemps.

In the UK, the employment rate for disabled people is 52 per cent, compared to 81 per cent for non-disabled people. The gap increases for people with more complex needs, with only 18 per cent employed.

Sense’s partnership with Pertemps started in 2022, aimed at tackling the employment gap. Since then, the West Midlands based recruitment firm has donated £100,000 to the charity, funding its employment service, which provides help with searching for jobs, job interviews and support in the workplace.

In turn, Sense advises Pertemps (which recently won an award from ‘Investors in People’ for its inclusivity and diversity work) on the creation of more inclusive recruitment processes and materials.

People with complex disabilities face many barriers in the labour market, including a lack of support while looking for roles, inaccessible recruitment practices and unsympathetic employers.

The strategic partnership between Sense and Pertemps seeks to ensure that careers are not only accessible but tailored to meet the unique needs of individuals with diverse abilities.

Pertemps Chair Carmen Watson said: “Pertemps is dedicated to pioneering inclusivity and breaking down barriers for individuals with complex disabilities.

“We believe in the power of collaboration to make meaningful change and, together with Sense, we are committed to making a lasting impact on the lives and careers of those we serve.”

Eimear Daly, Head of Philanthropy and Special Events at Sense, added: “With the support of Pertemps, our employment service is creating meaningful change, helping people with complex disabilities to develop new skills, build confidence and find work.

“This is about combining our expertise to help people not only find employment but thrive in fulfilling and rewarding roles.”

Sense currently offers employment support in-person to disabled people living in the Midlands, at its centres in Birmingham and Loughborough, and online and telephone support to people living in other parts of the country.

For more information and support from Sense visit on the Sense employment service visit: www.sense.org.uk

Case study

Patrick Watson (66) from Birmingham, is visually impaired and uses specialist equipment, such as a screen reader and magnifier, to do his job for the NHS in a local appointments centre.

When Patrick was looking for work, he turned to Sense for help. Sense understood his needs and helped him update his CV and covering letter and then provided interview technique training and arranged for him to go on a customer service course.

Patrick said: “Sometimes you get to the stage where you think ‘with my disability there’s no jobs’ and it’s really difficult. But there are opportunities for us as long as we get the support we need.”

Disability, Diversity, News

PageGroup CEO Calls on Businesses to Remove Disability Employment Barriers

FTSE 250 recruitment company, PageGroup, is calling on the industry to do more to support people with disabilities get into work. This rallying cry – led by CEO, Steve Ingham CBE, comes following a survey of over 1,000 UK business leaders which highlighted that almost three quarters (74%) feel that there are barriers to hiring people with disabilities in their organisation.

In a market where there are currently more vacancies than there are job hunters, these businesses are overlooking talented and skilled people with disabilities, including those who are neurodivergent, by closing the door on them at the very first step in the process.

To encourage businesses to improve and diversify their hiring practices, PageGroup has brought together key charities, social enterprises and changemakers in this space to launch a set of free resources designed to foster accessibility in recruitment across all industries, specifically for people with visual impairments, learning disabilities, and the neurodiverse.

In creating these resources, PageGroup has partnered with cloud-based web accessibility experts Recite Me, and worked closely with Leonard Cheshire, Genius Within, and Vision Foundation to identify simple yet meaningful solutions to help open up the jobs market and remove initial barriers to employment for those with disabilities.

With just a quarter (27%) of business leaders in the UK saying their organisation uses assistive technology to improve the hiring experience for people with disabilities, for example tailoring adverts for people with visual impairments or adopting ‘text to speech’ apps, there is a clear need for greater focus on inclusion at all stages of the recruitment process.

To offer greater accessibility to opportunities, PageGroup has installed Recite Me’s website plugin software across its sites to increase access for candidates applying for roles.

Today, job seekers can see the toolbar in action in eight markets on Michael Page and Page Personnel websites, and expect to see it continue to roll out across their sites globally in the coming months. The Recite Me toolbar is a website extension designed to offer users with visual impairments, learning disabilities and neurodiverse abilities a truly inclusive online experience with a range of customisation options to ensure accessibility.  These include screen reading, line-by-line tracking, distraction elimination, text zooming, and colour correction on pages to assist users with a variety of disabilities. Users can design an online experience to best suit their needs, helping every candidate to kick off their job search in the best way. As most job searches begin online, these adaptations are a radical improvement for job seekers included in the approximately one billion web users with dyslexia, visual impairments, autism, ADHD, epilepsy, and hyperlexia.

PageGroup’s CEO, Steve Ingham, said: “For the past 12 months we’ve seen job vacancies skyrocket, with many suggesting that the market is ‘candidate short’. But the fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands of disabled or neurodiverse candidates who are unable to access roles due to inaccessible recruitment processes.

“At PageGroup, we are determined to create change. Whether that’s the industry leading work our award-winning DE&I team do internally, or the support we give our clients through our DE&I Client Solutions team, or our new accessibility resources for businesses across the country – this is a priority that runs through the very core of our business.”

“Accessibility in the recruitment process is crucial, but that’s just the first step for businesses – it’s important to remember that it doesn’t just end there. Whether it’s introducing technology, making offices wheelchair accessible or designing layouts that create spaces for everyone to thrive, businesses must realise that they can never be truly done, only constantly striving to do better.”

Ross Linnett, CEO at Recite Me said: “We are proud to be partnering with PageGroup to deliver resources for businesses that will open up the conversation around inclusion and accessibility in hiring. We have also been working with PageGroup to integrate our website accessibility software across its websites. An important milestone, as visiting a webpage is often the first step of a job seekers’ journey, yet inaccessible websites mean many candidates face barriers at the first hurdle. We’re excited to be helping to open opportunities for those who have previously been excluded from the job market because of inaccessible technology.”

The resources are designed for business leaders and hiring managers, with the advice relevant for workers at all levels across all sectors. The only way to instigate positive change and remove employment barriers for those with disabilities is to take meaningful action. Businesses can learn more and access the resources here.

Education, News

Caption.Ed levels the playing field for thousands of learners with brand new features

Caption.Ed, developed by CareScribe, is assistive technology that provides highly accurate, multi-lingual, and subject-specific captions for any live or pre-recorded media, including face-to-face conversations. And this April, Caption.Ed gets even better as all-new features launch in its new version.

The next generation of Caption.Ed software, live April 4th, lets users take meaningful notes alongside their transcripts so that they never miss out on what’s important. With Caption.Ed, you can annotate notes against any audio or video, highlight key information and upload additional media to support your notetaking.

All of your Caption.Ed sessions are then available to revisit at a later date, meaning you can scroll back over what was missed, revise what was said and recall why it was important.

Caption.Ed is offered as tiered packages where users can upgrade or downgrade to suit their needs. It comprises:

·         Caption.Ed Lite – For individuals who need notes, with slimmed down captioning and transcription requirements.

·         Caption.Ed Pro – For individuals who need notes, with full captioning and transcription functionality.

·         Caption.Ed Notes – For individuals who just need to take notes without transcription.

People can register their interest now via the Caption.Ed website and book a demo with a member of the CareScribe team.

 

What sets Caption.Ed apart?

Caption.Ed is designed with accessibility at its heart. In fact, it was developed by people who have accessibility needs which is why Caption.Ed has accessibility requirements baked into its very design. It has an unobtrusive user interface (UI) which takes up only a small amount of your screen, and also has the ability for the user to change the text size or the appearance of their captions to help with readability.

It’s designed to work seamlessly across in-person and online teaching, making it the perfect solution for the future of hybrid learning.

Caption.Ed is also fantastic at captioning topics which use complex terminology such as health and life science classes, social sciences, or law. It also works across different languages including: French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Simplified Chinese.

Richard Purcell, CareScribe Director comments; “I really struggled with my dyslexia at school, medical school and finally at work. Ever since it’s been my mission to level the playing field. I founded CareScribe with the aim of improving accessibility and inclusion for everyone – be that in education or the workplace.”

 

Captioning is not just for deaf students

Captioning is often seen as a solution for people who are deaf or who have hearing loss but it has much wider applications.  Netflix recently reported that 80% of people watching their platform use subtitles. Most have no hearing loss but find that captions help to focus attention and boost comprehension. This can be an essential aid for people with neurodiverse traits that may affect working memory, concentration, writing speed and even those learning English as an additional language. For example, Caption.Ed is benefiting people with:

·         Dyslexia

·         Autistic spectrum disorder

·         ADHD

·         Auditory processing disorder

·         Mental Health Conditions

Purcell adds, “Thousands of people are already using Caption.Ed to allow them to remove barriers and participate more fully in their studies or in the workplace. As with all great assistive technology, Caption.Ed can be useful for just about anyone. Caption.Ed should be a game-changer for work, study and home life and I’m so excited to introduce our new version to users.”

 

The development of Caption.Ed  

Dr Richard Purcell is both a director at CareScribe and an NHS Doctor.  In 2013 he worked with a fellow medical student to create Medincle, a piece of software to help students cope with some of the complexities of medical jargon which has since been adopted across the UK healthcare and education space.

Richard has been developing assistive software ever since but in 2020 he put the company on hold to go back and work full time as an NHS doctor during the start of the pandemic, followed by a brief stint at St. Peter’s Hospice in Bristol. At the end of 2020 he returned to full time software development and his company CareScribe has grown from three to 30 members over the last year.

 

Key features of Caption.Ed

·         Works across live or pre-recorded media including: online meetings, classes and presentations as well as face-to-face conversations.

·         Caption.Ed provides highly accurate and subject-specific captions, for subjects such as scientific, medical or legal content.

·         Caption.Ed can capture and transcribe speech in many different languages including French, Italian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese.

·         Alongside their transcripts, users can add annotations in real time, upload additional media, and highlight important pieces of information to refer back to with ease at a later date

·         Users can revisit their past sessions and listen back to their lecture, seminar or meeting in order to recall what was said, revise and add to their annotations and export everything in a variety of formats.

·         Caption.Ed supports PC, Mac and mobile devices.

·         It works where you do, including: Panopto, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Echo360, Blackboard, Google Meet and many more!

Caption.Ed is already being used across many colleges and UK universities, including the University of Cambridge, St Andrews University, Edgehill University and many more. It’s also recommended by assessors within the Disabled Student Allowance and Access To Work.

 

How can Caption.Ed support staff in education?

In both schools and universities, Caption.Ed ensures that teaching is accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. This helps create independent learners and also allows institutions to save money on costly human note-takers.

Universities typically have to caption large amounts of media across different platforms. Caption.Ed allows content producers (such as lecturers) to generate highly accurate and subject specific captions for any of their media instantly. Transcription tasks can also be delegated across the team, which helps to reduce workloads for individuals and editing of transcripts can be done within Caption.Ed’s editing suite.

For administrators at schools and universities, Caption.Ed can help these users:

·         Take more effective minutes alongside your meetings in real time

·         Write up, download and circulate notes from meetings at a much quicker rate

·         Transcribe interviews and edit them with ease

With this in mind, Caption.Ed will be especially useful for pastoral staff and those who deal with SEND and Pupil Premium learners.

News

Disability inequity at work: 22% of business leaders unlikely to hire candidates with known disabilities

PageGroup, global recruitment specialist, today releases a study which shines a light on the wide range of perceived barriers facing disabled individuals in the world of work. The findings reveal how far UK businesses still have to go to level the playing field for disabled candidates.

According to Parliamentary Briefing Papers on Disability Equality in the Workplace, 8.4 million[i] people in the UK are disabled and of working age, yet only 4.4 million are in employment. During a period of candidate shortages across multiple sectors, PageGroup polled 1,000 business leaders to understand the obstacles their business faces when looking to hire disabled candidates.

The findings suggest the top five common barriers business leaders face are:

 

  1. Having the right internal support in place to accommodate the needs of disabled staff members – 23%
  2. The cost of modifying equipment / technology for disabled employees – 23%
  3. Concerns around legal proceedings if disabled hires don’t work out – 20%
  4. Additional resource commitment to onboard disabled workers – 20%
  5. A perception that disabled people may lack the right skills – 20%

 

Steve Ingham, CEO of PageGroup said: “During a time of national skills shortages it is extremely disappointing that businesses are not broadening their talent pools to include disabled candidates as they search for applicants to fill the gaps in their organisations. The disabled community has so much potential and untapped talent to offer the workplace. I am confident that many of the disabled individuals I have met are capable of fulfilling the jobs of ‘able-bodied’ workers and in many instances would far exceed the expectations of business leaders and HR managers. As a disabled person in a wheelchair myself, I have seen firsthand the hidden workforce that the disabled community represents and recognise the critical need for businesses to find ways to appeal to this community more and understand the strengths they offer.”

Despite the range of perceived barriers, many businesses are making steps to enhance hiring processes for all demographics, which suggests that becoming more inclusive is a business priority for leadership. In the last year over a third (35%) of companies have offered inclusivity training to all interviewers of potential candidates, and 34% have altered the language in job adverts to remove gender biased language. However, there is a drop off when considering policies which directly benefit the disabled community searching for employment. Only a quarter (27%) have introduced tailored job adverts for people with sight difficulties or adopted ‘text to speech apps’. Furthermore, only 13% have hired a specialist recruiter that can advertise a role to underrepresented communities, such as disabled people.

PageGroup is striving to do more to help businesses. Its Diversity & Inclusion services include online content, interactive inclusivity workshops, Diversity & Inclusion Fitness Assessment and Diversity & Inclusion Strategy Development. PageGroup is also committed to promoting learning and development regarding unconscious bias and inclusion.

Ingham continued: “I am proud to announce today that PageGroup has launched a new D&I Solutions team to help bridge the gap between businesses, disability charities and disabled candidates. This team will address many of the perceived obstacles that business leaders identified in our research and will build partnerships to match talented disabled individuals with future employers.”

“I am also delighted to announce the hire of Ollie Thorn, PageGroup’s new Client D&I Manager, who will run the team entirely made up of employees from under-represented communities.”

Ollie Thorn, PageGroup’s new Client D&I Manager said: “Our research highlights a huge awareness challenge that disabled people must overcome to obtain employment in the UK. The truth is, I recognise how I am one of the luckier members of this underrepresented community in the workforce. However, there are many like me who have not had the same opportunities to find work. The team I am leading are committed to unlocking the hidden talent within the disabled community and providing a meaningful difference to the lives of millions of people. We cannot solve disability inequality in the workplace alone, so I urge businesses to get in touch so we can help educate them as they navigate their D&I strategies.

Caroline Casey of the Valuable 500 has also commented:

At a time of the “Great Resignation” and employers searching for talent, PageGroup‘s research highlights the huge opportunity that companies getting inclusion right enjoy – and the need for businesses to improve disability inequity in the workplace at all levels. 18 percent of the U.K. population have a disability – they also have huge talent. The Valuable 500 is striving to fundamentally transform the global business system and fight for an equal and inclusive society for all. By engaging with the world’s largest organisations and thought leaders and ensuring that disability is on their agenda we can collectively reach our goal of inclusion. We have developed and created tools to support our business leaders and their boards on their inclusion journey.  At some point in our lives, every single one of us will experience disability and we all have a responsibility to make humanity function better.”

[i] House of Commons Library, Briefing Paper Number 7540, Disabled People in Employment, 24 May 2021