Report shows way forward on disability

The slow implementation of the strategy has been a black mark on the record of this Assembly and its predecessor.

While there may have been good intentions in all the right places, deputies and senior officers have so far proved woeful at effecting genuine change.

To some extent, that remains the case. Concrete achievements that will help thousands of disabled people are few and far between.

However, the latest report by the British Disability Forum, published this month, at least gives the States a framework to work from.

The BDF is a respected not-for-profit organisation responsible for employing almost one in five of the UK workforce. It looks to make it easier and more rewarding to both employ people with disabilities, long-term injuries or health issues and to service disabled people.

By asking the BDF to run its scale over the States’ own employment practices, buildings and services, government is at last leading the way.

For if the island, and in particular corporate business, is to buy into the strategy the States, as the largest employer, must first put its own spade in the ground.

That point was acknowledged last year* by chief executive Paul Whitfield on signing the employers’ disability charter. The charter gives specific and realistic objectives for businesses to work towards.

Its nine commitments include getting more job applications from disabled people, getting managers to take disability awareness training and making ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the recruitment process and workplace.

While there was good news yesterday of a grant-funded disability training scheme it is in the commitment to ‘adjust’ that the States has its work cut out. The BDF says that the failure to do more for people with disabilities is all too often excused by a ‘lack of resources’.

This manifests itself in everything from how States buildings are laid out and equipped to identifying staff to implement disability policy.

If disabled people are to be fully integrated into the workplace, politicians and managers are going to need to replace excuses with action.

*This article has been amended. The original article incorrectly said that the States charter was launched this month rather than in February 2018.