Disclosure and Support Issues for Disabled Staff in Higher Education Report 2008
ECU: Equality Challenge Unit
Equality Challenge Unit supports the higher education sector in its mission to realise the potential of all staff and students whatever their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief or age, to the benefit of those individuals, higher education institutions and society.
The Unit is funded by Universities UK, GuildHE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland. The Scottish Funding Council also funds the Unit to collaborate with Equality Forward in Scotland.
© Equality Challenge Unit April 2008
Equality Challenge Unit
Disclosure and Support Issues for Disabled Staff in Higher Education
Report 2008
Contents
Executive summary
1. Introduction
2. Research methods
3. Research findings
4. Recommendations
5. Next steps
6. Resources and sources of further information
Appendices
A: ECU Disclosure and Support Survey for Disabled Staff 26
B: ECU email request for information 30
C: Suggested format for staff disability disclosure form 31
D: Positive About Disabled People/Two Ticks Scheme/ Guaranteed Interview Scheme
Acknowledgements
Equality Challenge Unit would like to thank those higher education institutions that have contributed to this project, including:
University of Bath
University of Bristol
University of Essex
University of Exeter
University of Hull
Imperial College London
Leeds Metropolitan University
University of Manchester
Manchester Metropolitan University
Newcastle University
University of Oxford
Oxford Brookes University
The Open University
University of Portsmouth
University of Salford
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
University of Southampton
University of Surrey
University College London.
ECU is also very grateful to those colleagues who responded to our Staff Disclosure Survey, without whom we could not have completed this project.
Disclosure and support issues for disabled staff in higher education
Written and researched by Honey Lucas
For further information contact
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Executive summary
This report summarises the findings of an Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) project undertaken in 2007 to examine issues affecting the disability disclosure decisions of staff in higher education. From the data collected for this project, the following issues were identified as influencing the incidence of staff disclosure of disability. It is recommended that these issues are addressed through institutional policies and practices.
Disclosure
· Disclosure depends on staff identification with the term ‘disabled’, which, for a number of reasons, may not be a term adopted by all staff with disabilities. Clearer information needs to be made available for staff about what constitutes a disability and what support is available.
· Confusion may persist about what constitutes a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act. This may be addressed by appropriate information from the higher education institution (HEI) at the point of monitoring, and by training for all staff.
· The social model of disability encourages different methods of supporting staff that are not reliant on them meeting legal definitions of disability. This needs to be understood by all staff, and adopted when developing policies and practices.
· Opportunities for staff to be able to disclose their disability status need to be available at all stages of their career, not just when they join an organisation. Methods of disclosing disability status whenever they wish to do so need to be made clear to all staff.
· Forms used to invite disclosure of disability status could usefully provide a clear definition of disability, including examples of long-term health conditions. Support mechanisms and key members of staff could also be identified.
Reasonable adjustments
· Clarification of procedures for arranging individual adjustments, and the provision of a key support individual or team, may assist disabled staff to reduce some of the frustration experienced.
· Effective monitoring of reasonable adjustments will ensure they remain fit for purpose and are being implemented in all aspects of an individual’s work, and at all sites where the staff member is working.
· The provision of training for all staff on the effective delivery of reasonable adjustments and a more inclusive environment would help to change perceptions of disabled staff as having a ‘problem’ for which the staff member is wholly and uniquely responsible.
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Supportive environments
· A commitment is needed at the highest levels to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all staff.
· Adequate and visible support mechanisms for disabled staff can help reduce the perceived stigma of disability, and the practical impact of needing to repeatedly request adjustments.
· Good communication between functions within an organisation can help ensure that disabled staff feel supported.
· Increased visibility of disabled staff, and the encouragement of disabled staff groups and networks, may help others to disclose an impairment.
· Support for disabled staff could be provided indirectly through training for all staff, and through targeted support for line managers. This could help to promote inclusion of disabled people across the organisation.
· Groups of disabled staff can provide useful practical and emotional support to their peers, as well as important sources of expertise for the organisation, either as self-support networks or as networks led by equality and diversity staff. For example, they can be encouraged to act as a conduit for conveying concerns to human resources and senior management.
· A supportive and welcoming environment within an HEI can help to encourage disclosure. This welcoming environment can be communicated through the information provided to people considering applying for posts at the HEI, and by offering appropriate support for existing staff.
· Integration of support across different areas of the institution could assist staff who have become disabled during their employment, and who need assistance.
· Mechanisms that may initially support disabled staff, such as loans of equipment, may also prove helpful to other groups of staff. These may be useful to staff with temporary as well as permanent disabilities or impairments.
· Institutions could consider coordinating support for their disabled staff, including centralised help for Access to Work applications and support for the line managers of disabled people. This support could be made available to staff on all types of contract. For example, flexible working practices that will benefit all staff could be encouraged.
This project has identified some key areas that may influence individual HE staff members in their decision about whether to disclose a disability to an employer. The recommendations of this project will be taken forward in ECU’s 2008 programme. It is anticipated that:
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· ECU will work with a small sample of HEIs that have indicated they are willing to implement some of the recommendations of this report as a pilot project, with a view to improving the institution’s disclosure rates.
· The implementation of initiatives will be monitored to measure their impact on disclosure rates.
· A final report will be published summarising the lessons learned from the initiatives and any further recommendations to the sector.
Further information on ECU’s 2008 programme and follow-up activities to this report can be found on ECU’s website.
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1. Introduction
1.1. Background
This report summarises the findings of an Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) project undertaken in 2007 to examine issues affecting the disability disclosure decisions of staff in higher education (HE). The project involved a small survey of disabled staff at one higher education institution (HEI), the full findings of which are reported in a separate publication, ‘Disclosure and Support Issues for Disabled Staff in Higher Education: Survey Findings 2007’. In addition, interviews were conducted with a number of key HEI staff at 15 institutions to capture an institutional perspective on the subject, and an analysis of email information about disabled staff networks was undertaken. The recommendations of this project will be taken forward during 2008 by recruiting HEIs to pilot some key interventions, with the aim of increasing the level of disclosure of disability at their institutions.
The level of staff disclosure of disability within the HE sector is important for several reasons. First, disclosure allows for more accurate monitoring of the recruitment, retention and promotion of disabled staff and the collection of statistical information required both for the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA), and as part of HEIs’ Disability Equality Schemes. More generally, disclosure of disability can be seen as an indicator of the impact of policies and practices on an HEI’s disabled community: this study has found that disclosure of disability is more likely to take place if staff have confidence in their employer’s commitment to disability equality, and that their progression in the post will not be affected. Lastly, steps that HEIs can take to encourage disclosure of disability may reap additional benefits both for staff and for the organisation as a whole, for example through more effective communication and increased staff retention.
This project has been undertaken in response to the fact that the number of staff who have declared their disability status to HE employers is lower than would be expected from the proportion of disabled people in the UK population, and also lower than the numbers of disabled staff working in HE as recorded in the 2004 census. Figures from the HESA for 2004/05 showed 2.34 per cent of disabled people working in HE, while the 2004 census indicated that 9 per cent of people working in HE have disabilities. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has stressed the importance of increasing the representation of disabled staff in the HE sector, and while acknowledging that the number of disabled staff in the sector is increasing over time (HEFCE, 2007), it has included in its Strategic Plan for 2006−11 a goal to monitor and increase the proportion of disabled people holding senior positions in HEIs (HEFCE, 2006).
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This project builds on a number of investigations that have recognised the importance of disclosure of disability within the HE sector, listed below.
· The Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) guidance for post-16 education providers, ‘Disclosure, Confidentiality and Passing on Information’ (LSC, 2003).
· An Institute of Employment Studies report (IES, 2005), ‘Non-disclosure and Hidden Discrimination in Higher Education’, which discusses disclosure of disability among other non-visible attributes of HE staff. This reports on project two of the research programme ‘Equal Opportunity and Diversity for Staff in HE’, jointly funded and commissioned by HEFCE, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (now the Scottish Funding Council) and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).
· A report by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC, now the ‘Equality and Human Rights Commission’, EHRC), ‘Disclosing Disability: Disabled Students and Practitioners in Social Work, Nursing and Teaching’ (DRC, 2007b).
· Equality Forward’s (2007) publication ‘Exploring Disability Disclosure among College and University Staff in Scotland’.
· The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education’s Commission for Disabled Staff in Lifelong Learning collected a range of evidence from staff, including information relating to disclosure decisions, during 2007, published as ‘From Compliance to Culture Change’ (NIACE, 2008).
This project complements these studies by providing additional primary research into factors that might affect an individual’s decision whether or not to disclose their disability status to their employer. Information has been gathered from disabled staff, disabled staff networks, HR managers and equality and diversity practitioners in order to place disclosure decisions in the context of HEI structures and cultures.
The findings of this investigation will be of particular interest to members of the HE community with responsibilities for the recruitment and retention of staff and increasing opportunities for staff with disabilities or long-term health conditions. The report is also relevant to senior managers, strategic managers and policy-makers within the sector as they consider interventions to increase the proportion of HE staff who feel able to disclose disability status to their employers. This will require ensuring that all staff are contributing towards creating an inclusive environment in which disclosure of disability is not avoided through fear of stigma or discrimination.
Based on the analysis of data collected, potential interventions are suggested that may help to encourage disclosure among HE staff, which HEIs may wish to implement as part of existing projects to boost the disclosure rates in their institution.
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The findings of this report, and of the project work it summarises, will be used by ECU to develop a list of key interventions to be piloted by a small group of HEIs in 2008. The results of this pilot will be reported as part of ECU’s 2008 programme.
This report uses the definition of disability found within the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, as amended:
‘A disabled person is someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’ (Secretary of State, 2006)
For the purposes of this report, the terms ‘disabled staff’ and ‘staff with disabilities’ refer to individuals employed by HEIs, and who meet the definition of disability given above. These individuals may be academic or professional/support staff and may work at any level within the HEI.
There are different public perceptions of disabled people, two main differences being embodied in the medical and social models of disability.
· The medical model of disability suggests that difficulties experienced by disabled people as a result of their disabilities, impairments or long-term health conditions are caused directly by the limitations of those disabilities.
· The social model of disability asserts that the barriers experienced by disabled people are the result of how the physical and social environment is structured, not by any inherent lack of ability on the part of the disabled individual.
This report is written from a social model perspective that supports the former DRC’s view that:
‘The poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion experienced by many disabled people is not the inevitable result of their impairments or medical health conditions, but rather stems from attitudinal and environmental barriers.’ (DRC, 2007a)
In this report, the terms ‘disclosure’ and ‘declaration’ are used synonymously to indicate a statement by a disabled person to an employer that could identify them as being disabled. Equality Forward (2007) has produced a useful definition of disclosure: