Are there any "disability confident" employers who actually MEAN It?

SheffieldMan1976

Above.

Most employers trot out the line on the ads, but IMO the majority of them don't mean it, it's just a voluntary aspect of the Equality Act 2010.

It just enrages me that every time I apply for a job, as soon as I declare, especially the Autism, BOOM! Rejected. {Removed by moderator} especially anyone who's unfortunate enough to be disabled or neurodiverse, and also middle aged because ageism isn't currently illegal.

All I want is a part time job which I can get to easily, in either admin or retail, preferably retail but the problem there is that evenings and weekend shifts are pretty much mandatory and for various reasons I can't do either.

rubin16

You're missing the issue completely.

On average at moment rough statistics show that most people are applying for roughly 200-300 jobs and out of those roughly 5 of them come back with an interview for that person and even then most of the time still get ghosted afterwards. This is before you even add the fact you're disabled, your age, have no paid work experience and not currently working.

There is simply not enough jobs going round, and each "Real" job posted is getting thousands and thousands of applicants. Also applicants using AI is a real problem and there's applicants who will use AI to spam out applications which is getting harder and harder to detect making a lot of companies start to only hire 'internally' or from 'word of mouth or referral'.

The job market is a complete shambles at the moment.

dolfrog

Hi @SheffieldMan1976

I was the first adult in the UK to be clinically diagnosed as having Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) in 2003 to help the UK Medical Research Council get government funding for a 5 year APD research program (2004-2009) run at Nottingham University. I had to go to Sheffield University to be diagnosed. APD is the underlying cogntive cause of my dyslexia symptom, and my problems processing and understanding rapid speech, such as Liverpool and Glasgow accents.

My employer 1996 -2004 was run by a famous dyslexic, and due to the 2005 Disability Discrimination ACT they closed our local branch to make me redundant, all the other staff were transfered to other branches of the company.

in the 2000 teens I was asked by the manager of our local JobCentre to explain what APD is, and how it affects me, and the lifelong accomodations I may need. I typed the descriptions in my word processor and printed it on a a sheet of A4 paper. One week after I took it to the JobCentre the manager told me that I was unemployable, and i should move from ESA to Disability Living Allowance benefit.

This is similar to the USA where APD was first identified, and the norther states do not want to explain the Temporal type of APD which includes the brain having problems identifying the gaps between the sounds the ears hear, including rapid speech. they do not want to tell so may communities to slow down their rate of speech so that those of us have this type of APD can understand them.

justsaying2025

Hi @SheffieldMan1976

Have you tried the employment help offered by Scope? The lady who I spoke to was very good. She told me you don't have to tell them about a disability. You local authority will also have a facebook group (usually 'get sheffield working' or similar). They often have part time roles in my local group. The 'work well' scheme may also operate in your area, I got a really helpful lady and it was face to face which I prefer. I work from home but from the sounds of your situation that's not an option. Saying that, whilst being WFH has probably meant I managed to keep the job it is very isolating so not something I want to do forever.

Anyhoo, good luck. xx

Ross1975

@SheffieldMan1976 There's been a great topic by SwiftFox on tips for applying for jobs here Applying for jobs — Scope | Online Community

Mr_Shoes_Tied

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/146883/are-there-any-disability-confident-employers-who-actually-mean-it

Ageism IS illegal in the UK.

rubin16

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1130800#Comment_1130800

Unfortunately just because its illegal doesn't mean it doesn't happen all the time, especially when it comes to job hunting. Same for being disabled.

Stellar

You need to give up on finding employment for now @SheffieldMan1976. It's clearly wrecking your mental health, and because of systemic political issues outside your control, will not go anywhere.