How to make recruitment disability-inclusive

“It’s workplace culture, not disability inclusion,” says Rachael Mole, CEO and founder of SIC, an organisation working for disability access and workplace inclusion.

 

When we make recruitment practices disability-inclusive, we’re just making them better. For everyone.

 

Flexible, thoughtfully designed recruitment practices mean that disabled people can apply for, interview, and win the jobs they deserve.

 

But they will also help your charity become a magnet for talent because of its great workplace culture. 

 

 

Understand the social model of disability

 

If you think disabilities are only in the body, that’s the medical model of disability. It says:

• People are disabled by cognitive, physical, or motor differences or impairments
• The “problem” is in their body

But disability is more contextual than the medical model would have us believe. After all, you can feel highly disabled in one setting, and not at all disabled in another setting.

 

The social model of disability says:

• People are disabled by structures – a wheelchair user is disabled by design choices, for example, like buildings without ramps
• The problem is social systems, not people’s bodies
• Disability is a mismatch between a person and the environment they’re in

 

When we understand the social model of disability, we can see that many common recruitment practices disable people.

 

For example:

• Long, complicated application forms may disable people who have ADHD. A short application form which lets you save your progress is less disabling
• In-person interviews may disable people who have chronic pain or fatigue. Remote interviews may help them manage their pain and energy levels better
• Accepting only written answers may disable people who are dyslexic, or less comfortable writing in English. If you’re not specifically testing candidates’ writing skills, why not accept video as an alternative format?

 

 

Test the relevant skill

 

“As an app developer who works remotely and spends quite a lot of time working on my own, I find it ridiculous that employers still expect me to come in for an in-person interview” says Rowan*.

 

“I’m often assessed on my ability to maintain direct eye contact and make small talk. But those aren’t the relevant skills for my job. And since I’m autistic, I really struggle with them. But if you set me a programming challenge, and let me do it remotely, under my standard working conditions, I’ll ace it.”

 

If you hold in-person interviews or use long written assessments “because it’s always been done this way”, then think again.

 

Take a hard look at your recruitment practices now. What are the relevant skills for this job? How can we directly assess them? And how can we strip out unnecessary, distracting and disabling elements?

 

 

Normalise accommodations

 

Disability is incredibly common.

 

More than 1 in 5 of us are disabled. And when we count mental health conditions as disabilities (which we should), that rises to more like 1 in 4 of us.

 

Disability is a normal part of human experience – so talking about access needs and disability accommodations should be, too.

 

Yet research shows that many disabled people never ask for the access adjustments they need.

 

Encourage people to share their access needs. And remember that most access requirements work for a huge range of people, whether we’re tired, distracted, dyslexic, introverted, Deaf, hard of hearing, have ADHD, or just prefer having captions.

 

 

Model reasonable adjustments

 

Just saying “we’re happy to accommodate your needs” won’t do much. After all, it’s your legal duty to make reasonable adjustments.

 

And many people won’t feel safe asking.

 

Clearly list out the steps you’ve already taken to make your recruitment more inclusive and give examples of other changes you’re able to make. You could say something like:

 

“We’ve tried to make our interviews more accessible by holding them online, during the standard school day (9.30 am to 2.30 pm), providing a minimum five-minute rest break every hour, and sharing all interview questions in advance. If there’s anything else we can do to make this more accessible to you, please let us know. For example, we can arrange BSL interpretation, or more frequent rest breaks.”

 

 

Show the salary

 

Not showing the salary disadvantages many marginalised groups. Not just disabled people, but also women and people of colour.

 

 

Minimise interview rounds

 

Do you really need a phone interview, two Zoom interviews, and an in-person assessment? No way.  Multiple rounds are exhausting, a waste of time and energy, and can exclude people with chronic pain, fatigue, or other disabilities.

 

It’s also a sign you’re not asking the right questions or giving your candidates a chance to give you the right answers.

 

 

Remove discriminatory reference questions

 

Don’t ask “how many sick days did this candidate take?” when you’re taking up references from former employers. It’s ableist, and also discriminates against other groups who may require more time off work, such as women.

 

 

Keep it simple

 

“The number one misconception we hear is that reasonable adjustments are expensive,” says Rachael Mole. “Many reasonable adjustments are just work culture changes. Proper sick leave, flexible working, working from home. They’re the top reasonable adjustments that disabled people ask for, and they’re totally free.”

 

When we present reasonable adjustments as being too tricky, expensive, or confusing, we’re tapping into a harmful stereotype: that disabled people don’t really belong in the workplace.

 

“They want to hire us (disabled people) but are already asking questions like ‘how can we let go of them?’” says Mole. “This shows it’s performative. Or they’ll say, ‘they take too many sick days.’ As a reason to not hire us in the first place.” 

 

 

Take a holistic approach

 

Harmful myths about disabled people abound. But the facts are clear.

 

As Mole says, “Once you’ve created an inclusive work culture, statistics show that disabled people take no more or less sick days than non-disabled people.”

 

“Sick leave is an important element of making your organisation disability inclusive. In fact, we suggest adding additional days, like duvet days or mental health days. It’s a perk that will help attract employees. And it’s part of a culture shift, towards encouraging your staff to take time off before they burn out. That benefits absolutely everyone, whether they’re disabled or not.”

 

 

Embed inclusion

 

Inclusion isn’t an add on, it is core to creating a healthy work culture. Aim to embed it across every area of your work. You can start by asking yourself simple questions like this, as standard, every time you recruit. 

 

Have we:

• Consulted with disabled staff to understand and address the ableist barriers in our workplace?
• Thoroughly reviewed all our recruitment practices to check we’re assessing for relevant skills? (For example, using a real work sample or live challenge to assess someone’s capability for this specific role)
• Paid people for their time? (Disabled people are disproportionately unemployed and under-employed - unpaid work contributes to this problem, as well as excluding other marginalised groups like women and people of colour)
• Standardised the assessment? A robust assessment rubric will help to make it clear what skills we’re really hiring for, and what evidence we have that candidates have those skills. It can also help reduce ableist biases, for example, in favour of people who are comfortable making direct eye contact
• Engaged our whole charity in an ongoing commitment to become more inclusive, by giving it the time, money, and senior sponsorship it deserves? Are we taking an intersectional approach, recognising that disability intersects with racism, sexism, classism and other systems of oppression?
• Supported our team to have confident conversations about ableism in the workplace?
• Used inclusive language and an accessible format? Check out our article for tips on how to write an inclusive job advert
• Advertised our roles with a broad range of platforms? This includes disability-inclusive sites like Evenbreak and Disabled Workers, and non-disability specific sites like BYP Network , Muslamic makers, or Ada’s List
• Provided a copy of questions to candidates before the interview? (At least 24 hours before, but ideally longer)
• Reminded candidates that they can ask for any reasonable adjustments? Emphasised that they don’t need to “disclose” a disability to do this?