We were delighted to have the opportunity to share our reflections on the research in the Law Gazette as the ‘Legally Disabled?’ project drew to a close.
You can view our article in the Law Gazette here.
‘Easy Wins’ and reasonable adjustments guidance
In coproduction with the Lawyers with Disabilities Division of The Law Society and following feedback from roundtable discussions, additional resources were produced to build on the research recommendations.
Easy Wins for small and large organisations. This document supports you to start or improve the process of understanding barriers faced by disabled people and taking steps to embed disability equality into your policies, procedures and organisational culture.
Reasonable Adjustments in organisations – best practice for disability inclusion. This guidance helps organisations understand what they’re legally obliged to do in terms of reasonable adjustments, and how to implement them.
It includes real examples from many firms and organisations collated to share best practice of what’s being done and is working right now.
Timeline
Groundbreaking new research
September 2017 marked the launch of an exciting new research project, “Legally Disabled? The career experiences of disabled people in the legal profession in England & Wales: developing future strategies.”
Prof. Debbie Foster of Cardiff University and independent researcher and photojournalist Dr Natasha Hirst undertook this research, the first of it’s kind. The Lawyers with Disabilities Division (Law Society) have been key partners in the development of the project which aims to co-produce research with disabled legal professionals. We are continuing to seek the involvement of other groups across the legal profession.
Funded by the Disability Research into Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) programme, the research investigated the barriers and solutions for disabled people across the legal profession.
Continue reading “Timeline”Remote Working Inquiry Submission
The Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee is undertaking a short inquiry into the implications for Wales of the Welsh Government’s proposals on remote working.
Following changes in behaviour seen during the COVID-19 pandemic the Welsh Government is aiming to “work with organisations to support a long term shift to more people working remotely.” It has defined remote working as “working outside of a traditional office or ‘central’ place of work.” This would include “working at home and close to home in your local community”. The Welsh Government has stated that it would like to have 30% of workers in Wales working remotely on a regular basis over the long term, but highlights that this is “not a target and no requirements will be put upon organisations and employers.”
Article in The Conversation
The Legally Disabled? team is always looking out for opportunities to share our research with a wider audience. Although based on the legal sector, our findings and recommendations can easily apply to disabled people working in other professional occupations.
From experiences of poor access during recruitment to the lessons learned from online working during Covid, there is much that employers can do in many industries to become more disability-inclusive.
Senior leaders and disability inclusion
For International Day of Disabled People 2020 we shared our thoughts on how senior leaders can take action to create disability inclusive workplaces.
You can read our article here.
New report launch: Covid-19
Greater flexibility could enhance access to the profession for disabled lawyers
Our new research on how disabled lawyers have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic shows increased remote working and more flexibility with reasonable adjustments could make the legal profession more accessible.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, many law firms, legal businesses and in-house teams began working from home for all staff – a reasonable adjustment which many disabled lawyers had requested before the pandemic.
A survey of over 100 disabled lawyers, launched by the Law Society of England and Wales in partnership with the Legally Disabled Research Team based at Cardiff University, found working from home during the Covid-19 outbreak enabled the majority of respondents to manage their disability more effectively. 70% of those surveyed would prefer to continue working remotely in the long-term.
Spotlight on disability
We are pleased to feature in the Costs Lawyer Standards Board newsletter with an overview of the research that we published in January.
Newsletters are a great way to reach your members and get disability inclusion on their radar. We welcome contact from disabled people, staff groups, potential disability champions, HR teams, stakeholders or leaders in the legal profession who might benefit from sharing knowledge and gaining further insights from our research.
Please get in touch if you’d like us to provide a guest blog post for your website or publication.
Keep a lookout for our upcoming report on the impact of Covid-19 on disabled lawyers, launching on Monday the 2nd November.
Breakfast Briefing, 30th September
Cardiff Business School blog
We have pulled together some resources and updates from the Legally Disabled project on the Cardiff Business School blog. This includes positive profile videos and an update on our upcoming Breakfast Briefing.