From addressing common obstacles like inaccessible interview locations and application processes to embedding disability inclusion into everyday team culture, Diane provides actionable insights for hiring managers, senior leaders, and organisations as a whole. She also highlights the legal frameworks around positive action and positive discrimination, the importance of workplace adjustments, and the role of senior leadership in driving change.
This Q&A explores how organisations can move beyond checkbox exercises to foster a culture where disability is valued and understood. With real-world examples of successful initiatives and a look ahead at systemic changes that could transform employment outcomes for disabled people, Diane’s expertise offers a roadmap for businesses striving to be truly inclusive.
Q: What are the most common barriers disabled people currently face when looking for work or attending interviews?
A: Disabled people represent a vital talent pool, yet many face barriers when applying for jobs. Business Disability Forum conducted a survey in November 2025, and found that 43% of disabled candidates experience more obstacles than non-disabled people, particularly during interviews. Common issues include travel and inaccessible venues. Always check facilities in advance and consider online interviews as an alternative.
Interview processes can also be challenging for those with communication or processing difficulties. Share detailed information about interview stages beforehand, offer materials in accessible formats (e.g., large print, audio), and provide communication support such as sign language interpreters. Consider whether a practical test or working interview might better showcase ability than a traditional Q&A.
Make it clear that adjustments are available at every stage, as 80% of disabilities are not visible and candidates may hesitate to ask and give examples of possible adjustments.
Barriers often start before interviews; inaccessible websites and job portals can exclude people who use assistive tech. Application forms should allow candidates to highlight skills gained outside formal work or education, and AI screening tools should avoid penalising non-traditional career paths.
Q: What practical steps can organisations take to ensure that disabled candidates feel welcomed and fairly treated before they even apply?
A: Think about the message your organisation may be expressing – perhaps without even knowing it - about disability through your wider communications and brand. The language used on your website and in job ads, for example. Does it make disabled people feel welcomed and encouraged to apply for roles or could it leave disabled candidates feeling alienated? Use positive terms such as “we welcome disabled applicants” or “we accept applications in alternative formats” such as via email or in audio format and provide different ways for candidates to contact you. Also think about images. Are disabled candidates portrayed in any of the images on your website? We have recently worked with disabled models and volunteers to create a ‘Disability smart image bank’ of over 700 authentic images of disabled people, including in the workplace, to help our member organisations with this.
Q: How should hiring managers approach disability disclosure conversations in a way that is respectful and supportive?
A: Under the UK Equality Act 2010, hiring managers must make sure they do not ask any questions about disability during the recruitment process as this could be viewed as discrimination. Equally, they should not ask what adjustments a candidate would need in a specific role until after a job offer has been made.
At the same time, disability disclosures for monitoring purposes must be kept separate from the application itself and not seen by anyone involved in shortlisting or in any other part of the recruitment process, unless the organisation is engaging in a positive action programme such as the Disability Confident ‘Offer an Interview’ scheme.
Instead, the employer should ask what adjustments a candidate needs at every stage of the process, giving examples of what could be provided – for example, online rather than in-person interviews, providing questions in advance (where the ability to answer unseen questions on the spot is not a core competence for the role), or extra time for a test. Make sure you ask every candidate, not just those whom you think may have a disability. You could ask “what do you need for this to be the best possible experience for you?” to frame the conversation as positively as possible.
Q: Can you explain when positive action or positive discrimination is lawful and how managers can use it effectively to widen the talent pool?
A: Positive action is encouraging disabled people to apply for jobs. This is lawful. An example would be to include a positive action statement on your job adverts such as ‘we welcome disabled applicants’.
Positive discrimination – often called ‘ringfencing’ – means giving preferential treatment to disabled candidates and is lawful for most employers in the UK (it is not lawful for other protected characteristics). So, employers who want to address the under-representation of disabled people in their workforces could decide to either advertise jobs as open only to disabled people or allow disabled people the first attempt to secure vacancies. This could be by using disability-only talent pools and shortlists, working with specialist recruitment agencies, or initiating projects where the employer works closely with relevant stakeholders to find candidates and build their skills for positions. Only when the suitability of the disabled candidates has been decided is the recruitment drive widened to include everyone.
Whilst positive discrimination for disabled people is legal for most employers in the UK, it is really important to remember that specifying that only people with a particular type of disability can apply is not lawful – for example, saying that roles are open to people with a learning disability or a neurodiverse condition such as autism. This is because people with other disabilities could bring a claim for discrimination if they were well qualified for the job but excluded because of their disability.
Employers can encourage people with a particular disability to apply for certain roles. An employer could for example say: “We particularly welcome applications from people with learning disabilities who are under-represented in our organisation” if they have conducted an analysis that shows this to be true. This is positive action, rather than positive discrimination.
If it is a genuine occupational requirement to have a particular disability – for example, lived experience of mental ill health to work as a mental health case worker – then employers can specify that candidates have a particular disability.
Q: How can managers embed disability inclusion into everyday team culture, not just as a checkbox exercise?
A: 'Othering' is common when it comes to disability. It means treating it as something that happens to others, not us. Managers can change this by framing disability as part of being human and workplace adjustments as productivity tools for anyone. Highlight the breadth of disability and share stats like: 83% of disabilities are acquired, not present from birth. Normalising disability in everyday conversations makes staff more comfortable asking for support. Inclusive design – asking “who might be excluded?” – reduces the need for individual adjustments. Finally, managers need easy access to disability training and responsive adjustment processes.
Q: What role should senior leaders play in setting expectations around inclusive hiring practices?
A: Senior leaders drive organisational culture and so have a significant role to play in setting an organisation’s tone and expectations when it comes to inclusive hiring.
Getting senior leadership buy-in to help promote and champion inclusive hiring practices is key. Leaders may have personal experiences of disability which they may be willing to share. This can be incredibly powerful in helping to challenge thinking and break down stereotypes around disability. As well as being the right thing to do, there is also a strong business case for hiring inclusively. Having a diverse workforce can increase productivity and innovation as disabled people can bring different skills and experience to the organisation. It can also help you better understand and represent your organisation’s customers and clients. We have created a free resource to help organisations make the case for disability inclusion.
Q: What are the most impactful workplace adjustments that help disabled employees succeed once hired?
A: Our Great Big Workplace Adjustments research found that adjustments can have a significant impact on a disabled employee's workplace experience, with nearly half of disabled employees (48%) saying that they had helped them be more productive in their work. We found the most requested workplace adjustments were working flexibly or with adjusted hours (47%), time off to attend appointments for a person’s disability or condition (two per cent) and use of ergonomic equipment (42%).
Different people will have different needs, however, so it’s really important to be guided by the individual about what will work for them. Making sure that everyone knows that adjustments are available, if needed, and where to go to request them is key. Line managers have a vital role to play in sharing this information and in helping people access the adjustments process.
Q: What advice do you have for managers to support the career progression of disabled employees?
A: Just like with recruitment, we need to look at career progression and ask whether there are barriers for disabled employees. Our recent survey found that 46% of disabled people feel it’s harder for them to progress compared to others. That means checking things like whether training is accessible and whether HR processes make it easy to get support, like disability coaches.
Attitudes play a big role too. In fact, 62% of disabled employees told us they want to move into more senior roles within two years, but some feel they’re not given extra responsibility because of their disability. So, it’s really important for managers to have those conversations about career goals and work together to remove any barriers.
Q: What successful examples of inclusive recruitment and retention have you seen that other companies could learn from?
A: At the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a collaborative effort led by Accessibility Lead, Andrea James created an Accessibility Hub that transformed workplace culture and understanding of disability. The hub offers hands-on access to assistive technologies across themed desks (visual impairment, neurodiversity, physical and digital disability) and features innovations like a VR visual impairment simulator and accessibility surgeries. This initiative drove a 50% increase in disabled hires and an 82% tech accessibility audit score.
AXA also advanced inclusive recruitment by launching its Accessibility Concierge service after auditing its practices. This industry-first service supports candidates with disabilities and long-term conditions from application to onboarding through personalised adjustments, recognising that needs vary by individual.
To help make inclusion more tangible, Business Disability Forum hosts its annual Disability Smart Impact Awards to showcase and share real-life examples of business practice that have made a difference to the experiences of disabled people. The 2026 awards are now open for entries.
Q: Looking ahead, what systemic changes in policy or practice would make the biggest difference to disabled people’s employment outcomes?
A: I think there are four key areas that would deliver significant improvements for disabled people in the workplace:
Workplace adjustments - these being universally understood with employers and line managers who are confident to have the conversation with their disabled employees, have a “why not?” mindset and understand that this is about productivity and know where to go to get support and put this in place.
Inclusive design of premises, policies and practices – reducing (but not removing) the need for individual adjustments.
A culture where disability is valued, talked about and understood - led from the top and informed by the lived experience of disabled people in the organisation.
Government policy - investment in Access to Work, which helps fund workplace adjustments, as a key piece of the jigsaw in supporting disabled people to get into and stay in work. And a change to enable phased Statutory Sick Pay so that people can come back to work gradually rather than the all or nothing approach that we have at the moment, which results in people returning to full hours before they are well enough to do so, which then affects their health long-term.
If you are looking for a talented professional to join your team, or seeking a new opportunity yourself, get in touch with one of our local recruitment specialists today.
