Action has been taken!...

A really interesting research paper carried out by the British Columbia Coalition of People with Disabilities in April 2011, entitled 'Investigating Workplace Accommodation for People with Invisible Disabilities', looks at how people with an invisible disability (such as diabetes, chronic fatigue, hearing and visual problems and learning difficulties, amongst many others) in Canada are perceived in the work place and what strategies have been put in place by the government and for-profit sector companies to help both parties. Page 9 refers to a law under the Canadian Human Rights Act stating that an employer is required to accommodate an employee with disabilities 'short of undue hardship on the part of the employer'. Furthermore, the government provides resources to help employers implement accommodation in their workplace. Industry Canada's The Workplace Accommodation Toolkit (WAT) is a comprehensive website that offers information about devices and services to accommodate people with invisible (hidden) and physical disabilities. The website http://www.wa-toolkit.info encourages employers to purchase accessible products and create services that invite people with disabilities to become employees of their organisation.  Moreover, this toolkit may be a valuable resource for an employer who is not familiar with an invisible disability. (http://www.bccpd.bc.ca/docs/employmentinvisibledis.pdf accessed 13 October 2013)

Even though this research has been carried out in Canada, it still holds great relevance as to what could be done in other parts of the world. A report by Jan Peters in association with Katalynil Melanie Allison entitled 'Equality and diversity: good practice for the construction sector' looks in depth about how the construction industry appears to be at the fore-front of industries that are making strong inroads into incorporating Equality and Diversity into the work place. It stresses that people with invisible/hidden disabilities should be catered for and incorporated into the work place as much as people with visible disabilities. (http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/ed_report_construction_sector.pdf accessed 13 October 2013). It shows that society is starting to take note of what  people with a hidden disability can actually do.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, yes, people with a hidden disability are accounted for, but in looking into the matter, there seems to be few companies/industries that are making positive strides in helping these people get into and maintain work. As with the Canadians, maybe an online tool to help companies cater for and understand what these problems are and how they can be managed, would work wonders in the UK. It is not only about helping the individual but with the right support and guidance the company could benefit hugely too. It can help build a company's/industry's/sector's reputation and help educate people on what is still largely an unknown and taboo subject. Having said that, there is the Access to Work scheme from the government that helps not only the disabled get and maintain work, but helps the employer with any additional funding/costs that may be required to help the individual and company. Therefore, it can be seen that steps are being made within the UK to help companies with the cost of employing the disabled, but there is still the matter of understanding and managing those with a 'hidden disability'....