There are 7.6m working age people in the UK with a disability, how many work in your business?
In partnership with Activate learning, Oxfordshire First, and Job Centre Plus, OxLEP Skills for Business delivered an event that aimed to support employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to your workplace.
The event was designed to dispel the myths on disabilities, raise awareness and understanding by inspirational speakers sharing their disability journey, showcasing the support available to support employers and encouraging positive action. It also provided an important networking opportunity for attendees to share their interest in making a difference.
At this event attendees:
- Found out what support is available to help recruit, train and retain staff
- Learned what options are available to help employers to support disabled staff in the workplace e.g. access to work
- Heard from keynote speakers including Angie Matthews from the Business Disability Forum
- Networked with a diversity of employers from the region
- Spoke to training providers and organisations who can place and train a talent pool
- Shared real-life examples of how this has worked in practice, including how it has benefited both employee and business
What they thought:
- “All speakers brought a valuable insight – I particularly benefitted from hearing about the companies that can offer support.”
- “I loved the event!”
- “All presentations were very valuable in their own right”
Overall, the comments were really positive with the majority of attendees very inspired by Angela Matthews and Simon Cooper sharing their journey and how they overcame barriers.
Key actions that the team will take forward from the event are:
1) The project team will encourage attendees to sign up to a pledge to make a positive difference.
2) Broaden the promotion of future events to encourage more employers to attend.
3) Set up a Disability Forum to encourage and educate employers to support people with disabilities.
4) Explore more suitable venues for future events with adequate disabled access and visibility. The venue may need to be visited and tested.
5) Continue to ensure speakers are chosen that can share personal journeys as they have the greatest positive impact.
6) Review structure and content of Fireside chat.
7) Provide more networking time as attendees were interested and felt that benefitted from networking.
Stay tuned for more OxLEP Skills for Business hosted events!
Find out more about the Skills for Business Programme
