This time of year can be a time of reflection for many of us. We tend to look at how far we’ve come in our disabilities or conditions, and to celebrate that we’re still able to enjoy life and share it with our loved ones. Read More
I was flabbergasted when I learned that I had been shortlisted for the 2019 National Diversity Awards (NDA). https://nationaldiversityawards.co.uk/
To be one of 124 nominees after a record number of nearly 30,000 people entered, is no small feat.
I had long been campaigning for disability rights after beating the odds to recover from a late diagnosis of HIV back in 2006. I had been given just two weeks to live; this was a turning point in my life, to say the least.
It spurred me on to set up my own company, Luminate, as a Disability Development Consultant, to raise awareness of HIV and hidden disabilities.
I felt both delighted and humbled to have received a nomination for the Positive Role Model Award for Disability. Read More
Did you know … it can cost up to £30,000 to recruit a new member of staff in the UK, including the cost of loss recruiting and training a new employee and the loss of productivity while a replacement employee gets up to speed? It is believed that employees with disabilities will stay with you longer than most, helping you to reduce your recruitment costs. Read More
A few years ago, as Chair of the Disabled Staff Association for a central government department, I arranged for Alistair Campbell to come in and give a talk about his experiences with mental health. Read More
Whether a disability is a condition from birth, or one that begins later in life, the one certainty is that it will be challenging. If the disability can’t be seen, it can be even tougher to cope day to day.
How other people think about you and act towards you can have a huge impact on how you view yourself and your role in society. An occasional moment of rudeness or being ignored may be a minor inconvenience or annoyance. But the more it happens, the more the impact adds up. And what if the negative attitudes and behaviours you experienced were not recognised by large numbers of people around you as being a problem? Despite progress made over the last two decades, this is still the case for disabled people in Britain today. Read More
Disability. Is it my new dirty word? Dis-abled? Less able? Less competent? Can’t do the same as everybody else? It’s a scary word, both for the person labelled as disabled and for those working around them. The whole disabled vocabulary is fraught. Read More
Christmas is approaching, so in a light hearted post, I thought that I would tell you everything that you need to know about disability and this midwinter celebration. On International Day of People with Disability on 1 December 2017, I encouraged people to think about disabilities for more than just one day a year. So here are 12 facts you might not know about disability – one for each of the 12 days of Christmas – to get you started. Read More
3 December 2017 is the UN International Day of People with Disability, marking the 25th anniversary of this day.
The day is about raising awareness of the fact that so many people live with some kind of disability. On the whole they are marginalised and many live in more poverty than they should. Read More
Despite the high number of people living with disabilities in the UK, many organisations have still little experience of working with someone with a disability. Too many people just don’t know what to do when a member of staff becomes disabled. Read More
It is sad to see that in this day and age, hate crimes are still being committed against people with disabilities. More worrying is the inconsistent way in which these crimes, and the people who commit them, are being handled. Read More
During the summer, many people go on holiday – taking time out to get some sun and relaxation. But when did you last take a proper holiday? When did you last really switch off – your phone, your tablet and all your other devices – and take time to properly relax and unwind? Read More