[access-uk] BBC News - RNIB Failing Blind Unemployed
- From: "John Gurd" <j.gurd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Access-Uk" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 15:39:09 +0100
The RNIB are currently running a major campaign to encourage employers to
employ more blind people, but this BBC report makes it clear they aren't
exactly leading by example...
John Gurd
BBC NEWS
Charities 'fail' disabled workers
Many charities which represent disabled people are failing to employ a
significant number of disabled workers, a BBC Scotland investigation
learned.
It discovered that many have fewer employees with a disability than some
major private-sector companies.
The RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind) recently said that
three-quarters of visually impaired people of working age are not in work.
However, less than 8% of its own staff are disabled.
The charities aim to end discrimination in the workplace and encourage
employers to look beyond a person's disability.
But in the BBC survey the extent to which the charities themselves employ
disabled people was discovered to be patchy.
Below the mark
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) came out top of the list
with 40% of its workforce in Scotland being disabled.
Momentum, a charity which assists physically and mentally disabled people
move towards independence and employment, came second with 11%.
The RNIB has less than 8% of its workforce that are disabled.
Capability Scotland and Sense Scotland employ between 5% and 6% disabled
staff.
The Scottish Association for Mental Health and the Guide Dogs for the Blind
Association fall below even that mark.
The disabled need role models of other disabled people who are in important
jobs
Nick Lewis
Ready Willing Able
Gwen McCreath, assistant director of RNIB Scotland, said the charity does
not operate a policy of positive discrimination.
She said: "Inevitably some other charities might have higher employment
rates of disabled people because they positively discriminate, and perhaps
in certain
aspects of their work only employ disabled people.
"RNIB encourage disabled and non-disabled people to apply for jobs and gives
them an equal chance. But at the end of the day we are an organisation that
provides services, we are a campaigning organisation and we need to be sure
that the people we are recruiting can do the job."
Nick Lewis, editor of Ready Willing Able, a recruitment journal aimed at
disabled people, believes that the explanations given by charities are poor.
He said: "The disabled need role models of other disabled people who are in
important jobs and so the charities who are representing us are the key
people
who could create these role models."
Making it happen
The Glasgow Centre for Independent Living provides disability equality
training to other organisations and 70% of its staff are disabled.
Training coordinator John Dever said: "They tend to see disability as a
problem that needs to be fixed rather than a barrier that has to be removed.
"You must admit there is a credibility issue.
"Obviously as a small organisation we make it happen because we are
committed to making it happen.
"They might be talking about it but we are actually doing it in reality."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/3899097.stm
Published: 2004/07/16 08:37:42 GMT
© BBC MMIV
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