How can the next government improve disabled people’s work opportunities?

Sam_Alumni

Over on the blog, we are talking about how we'd like the next government to improve disabled people's work opportunities.

"We want the next government to deliver Everyday Equality with disabled people. It must put the interests of disabled people at the heart of its agenda, and deliver meaningful change over the next five years to tackle the barriers that prevent disabled people from participating fully in society.

One area where disabled people face challenges is employment. We know that many disabled people want to work and are pushing hard to find jobs, but many continue to face huge barriers. Disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people. 

That’s why we  are calling on the next government to improve disabled people’s work opportunities."

How would you like the next government to improve work opportunities for disabled people?

Sam_Alumni

Kathy on twitter said:

https://twitter.com/Kathy_Bramley/status/870171648170881024

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Nystagmite

I found there was no support offered to me at all whilst in was signing on. But they wanted to get me back into work.

The work programme was inaccessible. My requirements weren't unreasonable either. They were just lazy.

Kathy_Bramley

Hiya! What I was saying on Twitter kind of boils down to redefining what the question of who is the best person for the job means to something like a common sense anarchism lol, distribution of jobs both towards who needs them and who could best do them via a points system or something, rather than simply competing for "the best" in some sort of narrow definition, but a holistic thing that looks at the qualities that a job demands and first of all seeking the sections almost limited to that - that's a wrong way to put it - but a sector managing it more efficiently of all jobs. And also which groups could be managing it with adaptation who wouldn't otherwise be able to access the job market. If you can use CCTV system or data entry or any text based call centre stuff, or indeed hyper concentrate on the right environment. Managing freedom and consent equally in a system like this that is nonetheless ambitious in facilitating responsibilities and inclusion is an important question. And not taking anything away but perhaps the freedom not to work and know our own limitations otherwise has a chance of being renegotiated within a guaranteed basic income system. Then it's fair. And the evidence for good financial net balance under universal basic income is supposed to be positive.

And the main barrier is that it sounds like a utopian society that could just as easily be dystopian or go wrong.
Not like it isn't going wrong anyway.
But sometimes I have imagined writing a novel about it - I planned it out but I left it at church (stuck inside a permaculture introductory primer) and lost it. I have other plans and versions and have​ it in my head. But having imagined more profoundly physical disabilities on CCTV cameras and drones then I worry it's appropriation and unfair, cheap or contraversial​. And at worst - prompt for the Matrix for real; mother of all scifi and fantasy mashups in combination. The start of the Matrix for real. Skynet. Lawnmower man. Tron.  Handmaid's tale. 1984 meets the Wizard of Oz! Some Unbreakable and general comic-based distasteful dodginess of the disabled futuristic villain trope affecting my mind here. Probably. 

What if it's true and we're all supervillains given half a chance!!??!!!? Just human and driven mad by the powerful indignity and undignified power of adapted, concentrated ability and tech. Lol. 
And what if it's not? Or even only very slightly different kinds of megolamania and evil imagination  to all ordinarily able folk!? 

Kathy_Bramley

Good access is good for everyone. What does good access to work look like? Probably indeed part and parcel of universal basic income with similar rights reserved for everyone to not be in formal employment but basically OK, and alongside much more equal parental and carer and indeed self care leave and related flexibility in working. And more attention to matching  skills, location, and jobs and a holistic not single dimension heirachy and nonfriendly competition​ based version of "best" candidate. Interests and motivation, all kinds of expertise, these should play a bigger part, as well as physical fit with a job. Without compromising ambition, self determination, less obvious choices being ​available, obviously: like my uncle who went into libraries despite VI and careers advice against it. That sort of thing should still happen even though there's going to arise a new level or potential trend of these kind of career advice related tensions and pressure if we as a society work harder at trying to be less vague in saying "I hope you find a niche" and waving a fairly noncommittal and unsupportive hand in the direction of the career ladder a d job market and/or leaving it all to Remploy and similar specialists - or inspirational individual or special community based superhero chutzpah. Swings and roundabouts worth playing with. For everyone.

And ideally this tinkering with work and ideas around work will come hand in hand with improving the ties between productivity and consequences: what we actually do and produce and gain by trade or otherwise to what we actually need live well. And of course environmental and ethical consequences, including intergenerational consequences.  

That's the safety on, possibly not avoiding all discriminatory backlash, and it's their hate that needs no justification. But my concern is about heading off at the past eugenist and austerity grumbling, working on and around a perception of unfair burden as a falsely separated out group, via universal support, greater planning/rethinking work that takes pressure off and improves income for everyone, concentrated on meeting needs together, but not forcing anything on anyone.

But without being a "fluffy" fully planned  and systematised and authoritarian variation of Soviet/Chinese Communist style government. Just incremental changes towards more of what we want: safety, freedom, fiscal and spiritual/psychosocial needs, large or big jumps: like life is a big laboratory rat maze of options we haven't fully explored yet.

It's not over until everything is alright. And then it's not over-over. 

Geoark

@Sam_Scope

Having skimmed through the blog the issue of sick pay did raise another issue to mind.

Suffering from long term sciatica there are time when my condition is seriously aggravated increasing my pain levels to the point where travelling to work, and being stuck in a chair for most of the day is not viable for a short period of time.

In the last year this has been caused by various reasons from falling out of the bath, missing two steps and falling to just misjudging the height of a kerb and receiving a jolt. Because sickness is one of the main routes into disciplinary action most times I return to work before I feel up to it, and put up with the extra stress. This has on occasion resulted in a secondary absence and so increasing my sickness levels.

I don't disagree that this should be recorded as a sickness period, however where the employer has accepted that an employee has a disability sickness directly linked to the should be removed from the normal procedures from managing sickness levels, which in some circumstances result in the dismissal of the person.

A huge advantage with my current role and employer is that we have agile working, meaning I can carry on working from home as best I can while also taking care of myself and returning to work as soon as possible.