Marian Pallister finds some hope in disabled people's fight for employment.
ANGELA Hawse was understandably ecstatic when news reached base camp that her team-mate, Tom Whittaker, had conquered Everest. Whittaker lost his right foot in a car accident 19 years ago, and this week planted his left foot and his artificial leg firmly on the summit of the 29,028ft mountain.
The message which Hawse sent back down the mountain was: ''May his success inspire you to follow your dreams and know your abilities are far more important than your disabilities, whatever they may be. If you set your mind to it, and take one step at a time, you can accomplish anything.'' Ironically, even as her words were being disseminated around the world, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation was issuing a report which suggests that while a man with one leg might stand on top of the world, in Britain, he would be lucky to get a job in a ground floor office.
In the past 18 years, the cost of disability benefits has increased fourfold, reaching #22bn in 1996-97. The Rowntree report suggests that more disabled people are becoming claimants because they can't get jobs, and that they remain on benefit for longer periods.
Commenting on the report, Richard Berthoud of the University of Essex says that it reflects a tendency for employers in a hirer's market to become more selective in their choice of staff, thereby excluding disabled people and other ''marginal'' workers.
It is a bleak picture, which comes hot on the heels of the brouhaha about benefits cuts for the disabled, and makes Angela Hawse sound like someone who has crossed into Shangri-La. Between the Whittaker dream and the Rowntree nightmare, however, there is a reality in Scotland which gives cause for hope.
Far from employers marginalising disabled people, many are seeking out networks which will help them help the disabled into work. Two Scottish organisations which are acting as intermediaries between the disabled and those with jobs to offer them say that lack of communication is perhaps a bigger problem than lack of will on the part of the employers. No-one is suggesting that job-seeking for the disabled is a picnic: one man who has subsequently sought help from Capability Scotland sent off 400 applications for jobs, and when he eventually got an interview was told he couldn't do the work because the office was on the second floor. None the less, there is a changing attitude towards the problem, which is a positive sign.
Capability Scotland is one of the biggest voluntary sector agencies trying to get jobs for disabled people, offering training as well as liaison between job seekers and employers. Spokeswoman Michelle Hegarty says Capability finds it encouraging to have employers approach them, rather than them having to do the running.
Cynically, one could suggest that this turn-about is the result of the Disability Discrimination Act, which came into effect in 1995, but Eilis Doherty of Into Work, another company with charitable status which finds employment for
the disabled, believes the major local business and organisations which
have combined to create Lothian Employers' Network on Disability (Lend) are by no means looking at this in such a negative light.
Having said that, there is the mind-focusing fact that the Act means employers who do discriminate against the disabled face unlimited damages if a case goes to court successfully, and there has already been one successful test case.
Big companies such as Marks & Spencer and Tesco have already reacted positively, and next Monday Scottish Gas will receive the two ticks logo of the Employment Service Disability Symbol, which shows their commitment to employing disabled people.
Anne Marshall of Disability Services says that companies like Scottish Gas are helping to dispel the many myths associated with employing people with disabilities. The intention is for the symbol to break down barriers, letting the disabled identify employers with a positive attitude towards their abilities, and giving companies the opportunity to realise the positive business benefits of having disabled people on board.
Research carried out by FDS International has shown that
attitudes are becoming more favourable, and the survey, which covered small, and medium-sized businesses, also showed an increase in smaller companies taking on staff with disabilities. This confirms Eilis Doherty's feeling that there is no cynicism involved
in this improvement: the Act applies
to companies which employ more than 20 people. Michelle Hegarty of Capability accepts that the Rowntree Foundation is well-respected and that its research must reflect a UK-wide picture, but she suggests that while the picture is not rosy, ''in a local context in Scotland we have started to appreciate a change in employer attitude. There's a long way to go, but there's improvement.''
There is no question that historically, many disabled people gave up on ever finding employment, and myths about the difficulties involved in employing the disabled have kept employers at bay. Evidence of the changes which Capability Scotland and Into Work cite is there in the fact that companies like Asda and Safeway, the Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland,
councils, hospitals, universities, and insurance firms are among those who have joined together in Lend, which is just one of around a dozen such networks in Britain. Into Work acts as a facilitator with Lend and Doherty says: ''Yes, there is a need for more dedicated resources, but the movement is in the right direction.''
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