This morning a press release emerged from the Department for Work and Pensions. It describes how tech giants and disability charities are focusing on improved workplace accessibility. It’s focused on AI particularly and how further innovation will help disabled people find suitable, long term good jobs.
A meeting was held with the DWP and some of the biggest tech companies including Google and Microsoft with disability charities also involved. The current government has an ambition to get 300,000 disabled people into work by the end of the current parliament, whether this is achievable or even reasonable is unclear.
For disabled people workplaces can obviously be difficult environments. Of course legal framework has existed for many years now that facilitates greater accessibility and increased rights. Even so, I believe that workplace accessibility should go beyond physical barriers. For those with non-visible impairments, mental or otherwise, further work must be done. I believe that technology alone won’t fix disabled employment unless employers, workplaces, and policymakers truly change how they design work
The Keep Britain Working review and the subsequent Connect to Work Programme seem more like motivations for industry than real tangible goals. It sounds good in principle but the reality is such jobs, even if successful, would be competing with rapid ongoing innovation. The outcome at best would be short term fleeting jobs, not long term fulfilling careers. There are an abundance of jobs that could be created and assigned to disabled people in the proposed timeframe. The issue is the majority of these roles would be gig economy jobs and vacancies with poor support or career progression. So it appears the government is kicking the can down the road but in a way that appears useful.
The upskilling effort developed by the Tories, although not aimed at the disabled, has had a less than great impact. So much so that the House of Commons Youth Unemployment Statistics indicate 729,000 under 25s are unemployed today in the UK. What this demonstrates is that even if skills and job prospects are increasing they are not doing so in a way that provides long term job security. If young people with no disability are struggling to secure stable careers, disabled people face even greater barriers
The press release quotes several senior figures, including Pat McFadden, whose statements largely echo the same tone and objectives. One point stood out as reasonably insightful. It came from Jeff Banks, the CEO at Lightyear foundation – “For deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, the issue is not whether the technology exists, but whether employers understand it, adopt it well, and involve disabled people in shaping how it is used.” That statement is surprisingly realistic for a press release because it points to the real barrier which are employers and organisations, not technology.
It is my view that disabled people themselves should be directly consulted on this matter. Not tech leaders, CEOs or politicians. The leaders of charities have a strong understanding but the scope of this aim is too broad to generalise for the sake of efficiency. If the government’s aim is to be achieved disabled people must be platformed appropriately, giving them the opportunity to express the complexity of the situation. Simple ‘get to work’, box ticking exercises may create favourable statistics, but they won’t help disabled people meaningfully.
While tech innovation is welcomed by disabled people, the implementation and structure of this tech with regard to work is currently too unclear. This is a source of uncertainty and could be addressed by the government through identifying sectors where disabled people are underrepresented but needed. This could be done through a phased process whilst not relegating people to remote jobs or office based roles. Instead technology should be used to ensure open spaces are accessible and friendly.
Technology can help, but only if employers adopt it properly, include disabled people in the process, and redesign work to be genuinely accessible. Otherwise, this is just another PR story dressed up as progress.
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