A disability awareness charity aims to address the 67% of British people that feel ‘uncomfortable’ talking to people with disabilities.
Enable Me, the charity dedicated to raising disability awareness, has today launched a new training programme that will help businesses to improve staff awareness of disability in the workplace.
The programme, delivered by Enable Me’s trainers, provides interactive modules that allow workplaces to have a firmer understanding of all areas of disability, covering issues such as correct use of language, etiquette, communication, legislation and the creation of inclusive business environments.
The content of the programme aims to challenge attitudes towards disability whilst helping businesses to promote a culture of inclusion. It also promotes a greater understanding of how to adapt your business environment, making it more accessible to people with disabilities.
Chris Jay, the Executive Chairman of Enable Me explains,
“As well as promoting disability awareness, this programme has been developed to empower organisations with the knowledge that providing an inclusive workplace can benefit business. Currently 11 million people in the UK have a disability- yet many businesses are entirely unaware of this and may therefore be excluding disabled people and missing out on the opportunity of employing talented staff members. We are aiming to help these organisations to reap the benefits of being more inclusive, whilst also providing existing workforces with a stronger understanding of disability.”
As a charity, Enable Me is unique in that all of the services it provides are designed and delivered solely by those who have a disability themselves.
“Our workforce is made up entirely of staff with disabilities,” explains Chris, “and this allows us to be able to cover topics -such as language, legislation and inclusion- meaningfully and with great knowledge and experience on each matter.”
Research from Scope has revealed that two-thirds of the British public (67%) admit they feel uncomfortable talking to disabled people and feel awkward about seeming patronising or saying the wrong thing. Enable Me’s targeted training aims to address this by raising the confidence of members of staff by removing any barriers that exist as a result of lack of experience, understanding and knowledge.
Chris adds, “In addition to focusing on staff awareness, we aim to help businesses that may be customer facing, or that interact with the public and will inevitably encounter people with a disability. Our interactive programme aims to reinforce good practise in language and behaviour, removing any barriers that may exist, providing increased equality, choice and independence for disabled people.”
The Enable Me workplace disability awareness programme can be booked now and will be delivered in a business’s working environment. For further details on the programme, and how to book, go to www.enablemeproject.org.uk or email: [email protected]