Disability History Month starts this week! 14 November 2024 – 20 December 2024 Disability History Month is celebrated between 14th November 2024 and 20th December 2024 and this year focuses on Disability livelihood and employment. At Difference, we are focusing on Mary Greaves from Whitley Bay as our historical figure as she worked tirelessly to… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Work & employment
Disabled people are not superheroes: What you say, and how you say it, matters.
Why Should You Avoid Calling Disabled People Superheroes? Over the last two years I couldn’t work in ‘traditional’ paid employment, so I took part in lots of volunteering from home. I spent two years as a patient representative working alongside the British Society of Gastroenterology helping to write the new best practice guidelines. I mentored… Read more »
Nothing about us, without us: Not consulted! Not invited!
Silenced is how we felt at the celebration! Read why we could not ignore this! Reflections From Blue Plaque Unveiling This reflective piece comes from a small group of disabled activists in the northeast of England who attended the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to Mary Greaves. On a pedestrian walkway in front of a… Read more »
Celebrating a Local Disability Hero!
Mary Greaves and the Disablement Income Group This week, on 18th July 2024, North Tyneside Council will unveil a blue plaque in honour of Mary Greaves, a true champion for disabled people. Mary, who was herself disabled, was born in Newcastle and led the Disablement Income Group (DIG). Mary’s hard work helped bring about the… Read more »
Beyond Lip Service: ‘Doing’ EDI by Sara Chezari
At Difference, being Disabled workshop leaders, trainers and educators we can face many highs and lows. Often, our own, intersecting experiences of the very subject we are talking about, can go unseen. So, how do we, as facilitators, navigate the world of equity, diversity and inclusion training? We touched on some of the strains of… Read more »
Beyond Lip Service: ‘The Snail and the Shell’ by Bea Groves-McDaniel
We are almost at the tail end of glut of training here at Difference. We have facilitated lots of learning over the past few months and have reflected on our learning because of that too. We’ve worked with local authorities, housing associations, NHS trusts, heritage sights, and cultural organisations. Most of the time, people want… Read more »
A Landscape for Everyone
Improving the experiences of Disabled visitors to the North Pennines. Ahead of an online training event we are facilitating with tourism businesses in the North Pennines Area of Natural Beauty (AONB), we chatted to Community Engagement officer, Scarlet Hall, about our hopes for the training and our experiences of visiting rural places as Disabled people…. Read more »
Recruitment is broken – accessibility is the solution.
This week, we have a guest post by Azeem Ahmad, the founder of Inclusionflows.com. Azeem outlines some ways that organisations can start to move beyond just compliance with the Equality Act, and towards culture change for inclusive employment for disabled people. Recruitment is broken – Accessibility is the answer You might not think there’s anything… Read more »
More self-isolation?
I have noticed a few social media posts from disabled people along the lines of ‘What are non-disabled people complaining about? Isolation is something I put up with all the time”. There is little doubt that many of us become isolated as a result of our impairments, or more accurately, because of society’s inability or… Read more »
Reflections on work life as a disabled person
Reflections on work life as a disabled person My name is Caroline MacDonald, and I’m a policy adviser for the Government based in Whitehall but from my accent you can probably tell I’m a Northern lass and I live in Durham. I’ve been asked today to talk a little bit about my personal reflections as… Read more »
- © 2024 Difference North East