This internally focused project is aiming to understand and respond to the lived experience of disabled staff and generate ideas for changes in culture, policy, and practice.
It is being championed by the Centre’s Intersectionality and Inclusion Group, a forum for staff to come together to promote equality and justice for staff and students.
Led by Jess Dicken, a research fellow with lived experience of disability, the project has included interviews with staff from across the wider faculty and a workshop. It has been supported throughout by the Wellbeing, Inclusion and Culture Committee, staff disability networks, Human Resources, and Occupational Health – who have since used the project’s findings to shape new policy and resources.
Over the last year the group has identified answers to several vital questions, detailed below.
Headline findings
What helps make the workplace accessible and inclusive?
Supportive and kind managers who advocate, listen to and trust staff, offering the flexibility and adaptations required.
Advocacy and specialist support, such as Occupational Health, who provide specialist knowledge, champion the rights of the disabled staff member and offer empathy.
What makes (working) life harder?
Unfair and problematic systems & policies that can be complex, unclear and unfair. In turn, increasing the workload and wellbeing burden of disabled staff.
Academic Culture can be individualistic, precarious and performative by nature where success is measured on a narrow set of metrics which rely on overwork and pushing past limits. This is particularly difficult for those experiencing disability-related barriers.
What can help make the workplace more equitable?
Collaborating with the disabled community to co-design fairer policies, systems and procedures.
Taking a systems approach that considers the root causes of the barriers and inequalities within the system rather than positioning the disabled person as the problem.
Challenging academic culture to ensure that it is as fair, inclusive and healthy as it can be.
Recognising, valuing and enabling diverse staff by nurturing a culture of kindness and respect and building all staff knowledge and understanding.
This work is ongoing and if you would like to learn more about the project, or find out how to take part, you can email Jess directly on j.dicken2@exeter.ac.uk.