‘Legally disabled? The career experiences of disabled people working in the legal profession’, by the Law Society’s Disability Division and Cardiff University, published last week, found that disabled people are being excluded and undermined in their roles on a daily basis.
Many lawyers and paralegals choose to hide their disability when applying for jobs or not seek the reasonable adjustments they are entitled to under law.
Professor Debbie Foster from Cardiff University said: ‘Line managers and supervisors play a pivotal role in the reasonable adjustment process and in the management of sickness absence, performance management and promotion. However, we found the quality of the relationship between line managers and disabled employees often depended on ‘good will’, ‘luck’ or personality.’
The report’s recommendations include: reserving some training places for disabled candidates; greater use of flexible and remote working; the introduction of disability pay gap reporting; and disability awareness training for staff and managers.
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