How many "disabled confident" job vacancies in your area ?

This is so true and one that has me fuming. A few years ago, when my son was 18, a council job came up for someone to work in the mail room.

I am pretty certain my son could do a job like that. He can read and has no physical disability.

He got an interview as there's a guaranteed interview scheme with the council.

But he did not get the job. It just so happens, my hubby works for the council and knew the people who interviewed my son. So he was able to ask how our son had done at interview.

Not well at all. Because they had made NO allowance whatsoever for his comprehensiom problem.

Wait til you hear this though: they offered the job to someone else who turned it down. Rather than giving our son a trial, it went out to re-interview with "previous applicants need not apply"

Had they given him a trial and he'd been unable to do it, fair.

But they based their impression on his weakest area - verbal comprehension and i doubt he needed that skill sorting and delivering mail internally.

@MW123

OMG!! So, so spot on… Well said. This is absolutely true in my case. My whole work life changed the moment I declared my disability…I was no longer needed. Work retention became impossible.
And to top it off, my employer proudly calls themselves a “Disability Confident” employer!-What a joke 🤷🏻‍♂️

@Santosha12 Thank you.

Likewise, I am really sorry to hear about your experience which sounds hellish.

I'm confident you would have redress should you wish to pursue their major breach of confidentiality. And, I'd admire you greatly if do decide to pursue it.

I think what happens to us, working disabled people, is we get so worn down by having to commit/work at 150% it burns us out. As a result our self-care, and self-esteem, take a proper battering.

I'm sure none, absolutely none, of this has been factored into Kendall's Grand Plan For The Feckless Disabled.

As an aside, my employer was also a large employer. I resigned, they asked me to reconsider and offered me the opportunity of early retiral on health grounds, which I took. On reflection, they may have been concerned I would litigate given the many issues that drove me to resign?

I can only imagine smaller workplaces might be better/colleagues more understanding?

Hi @MW123,

Thank you for sharing such a deeply personal and insightful account of your workplace challenges. Reading your experience struck a chord with me because it mirrors much of what I’ve been through over the past three years since facing multiple serious health issues, hospitalisations, and the constant battle to remain in the workforce.I am truly sorry for the loss of your husband, especially in the midst of your own health struggles and the professional barriers you’ve had to navigate. As if the challenges of managing a chronic illness weren’t enough, dealing with an employer that fails to provide meaningful support only adds to the burden.
Your comments about the Disability Confident Employer badge resonate strongly with me. My employer is an NHS Trust,an organisation that should be setting the standard for inclusivity and accessibility. Yet, my experience has shown the exact opposite. Despite openly declaring my disabilities, I’ve repeatedly faced obstacles in accessing even the most basic workplace support.What’s been even more disheartening is encountering barriers within services that are supposedly designed to help disabled people re-enter the workforce. The Thrive into Work scheme in the West Midlands, for instance, assessed me as too disabled to receive their support. The irony is unbearable….being denied help because my disabilities are deemed too severe, while simultaneously being told by Occupational Health that I don’t meet the ill-health retirement criteria because I haven’t exhausted all treatment options. Yet, what’s not understood are those very treatments remain out of reach due to the endless NHS waiting lists and bureaucratic red tape. It’s a vicious cycle, and as you rightly pointed out, these delays often push people into permanent, irreversible disability when timely intervention could have made a real difference in my case.Unfortunately, I’m now at the end of my tether as I approach the final stages of my employer’s long-term sickness absence process. HR policies are being triggered, and there is a real possibility that I may be terminated on the grounds of ill health. While I do have a supportive trade union representative advocating for me, I am completely exhausted by this ordeal and feel like I’ve exhausted every possible option available to me.Even if I somehow managed to return to work, I know deep down that I wouldn’t last long. My physical, sensory, and mental health challenges have deteriorated to the point where I now struggle to get through even the most basic activities of daily living….let alone sustain a job. The brutal reality is that, by all employer standards, I now meet every definition of being a liability rather than an asset.Like you, I have taken part in the current Green Paper consultation, offering a detailed account of my lived experience and my thoughts on the proposed reforms. However, given the way this so-called “consultation” has been structured, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s more of a tick-box exercise than a genuine effort to protect the rights of disabled individuals. But I’ll leave that discussion for our main  thread.On a positive note, I am truly glad to hear that you have managed to hold onto your job and reclaim your place in the workplace. I have no doubt that the resilience you’ve built through these battles now enables you to support and advise others like me, who are still fighting to overcome the same injustices. Thank you for sharing your story…it serves as both a reality check and a source of encouragement.Wishing you all the very best😊