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SARAH STEPHENSON-HUNTER: This is the 10th annual lecture.

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It's my fifth and it's just fantastic to feel and see the buzz in the room and such a great attendance, especially on such an unusually warm evening.

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So thank you. Before I say any more, just a few words of housekeeping: For those of you online,

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you should have spotted by now that we have live captioning, which -

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– if you have any issues with that, switching that on, please do put a message in the chat online.

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You should have also realised by now that we have British Sign Language interpreters online.

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Again, they should be being pinned for you, but if there are any issues with that, do put a message online.

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And similarly, online there is the Q&A box.

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As I said there will be the Q&A session later. So please do put your question and answers in there.

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And if you've got anything else in terms of online, do put something in the chat and one of our moderators will attend to it.

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And again, just a word to those of you online and those of you in the room:

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This session is being recorded and there will be a podcast and vodcast available in roughly ten days.

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So all of you who are here, who've registered, you will get details of how to view that.

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Those of you in the room: as I've been speaking, you should have spotted we've got captioning throughout on all four screens.

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There is BSL coming through, if you haven't spotted - it's on the side two screens.

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Again, if you're not aware by now, then the toilets are out...

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... this is where a blind person points... I believe they're at the doors at the back and to the left.

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But again, we do have stewards around.

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So if there's any other issues, please do ask.

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And we really hope we've covered every eventuality with accessibility.

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But if there are any issues, do raise your hand and a steward should be able to assist.

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So I think I've covered everything. Before I hand over to the Vice-Chancellor, I do just want to say how fantastic it is to to have this event,

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to have our speaker, and to celebrate what it means to be disabled and to highlight some of the challenges.

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So that is enough from me. And I'll hand over to our Vice-Chancellor. (Applause)

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VICE CHANCELLOR IRENE TRACEY: Great.

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Well thank you, and thanks to the unit for organising this evening.

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I think as we were just discussing before we started, you know,

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this is a great illustration of what we can do and what we should be doing more in terms of,

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again, creating such an event and facilitating the opportunity to learn from each other.

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And that's something we can again go forward with and roll out across the University.

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So I'm really thrilled that I'm here this evening. As already mentioned, this is the 10th University of Oxford Disability Lecture.

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And for those who listened to my inaugural lecture as Vice-Chancellor,

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I talked then about the risks of complacency and the very clear need for us to

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have the humility to challenge ourselves and to think and act in new ways.

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And that includes examining our attitudes towards and provisions for disabled staff and students.

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We've got approximately 60,000 students and staff.

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So our community, if you think about it, is the size of a mid-range UK town.

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And we know that disabled people make up approximately 24% of the UK population.

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So the number of our disabled colleagues and students is likely to be non-trivial.

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And the unique life experiences, the daily problem-solving skills of disabled colleagues and students contribute to creativity,

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productivity, competitive advantage, and profitability.

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Their ability to innovate and to provide alternative perspectives can be transformative in a research and development environment,

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and at the level of self-interest, we must maximise the contribution of disabled staff and students and invest

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in their excellence in order for our organisation to thrive and to flourish.

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So we must continue to commit ourselves to fostering a culture at Oxford where disability is

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not viewed as a limitation, but as a facet of human diversity to be celebrated and embraced.

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There is much more work to be done,

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and I always say that when we talk about (laughs) what we've achieved or things that we've won or et cetera, 'But it's not done yet'.

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'We've got to keep going'.

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There is much more work to be done so that we can assure that all of our staff and students feel their needs are fully supported.

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The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy being elaborated by the Joint Committee on EDI has a very strong focus on disability,

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and I'm really pleased to see that.

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And there are a number of initiatives already underway to develop a more empathetic and inclusive community in this university,

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this collegiate university.

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And I would like to mention just one of those initiatives tonight. Over the last couple of years, through the Digital Transformation Programme,

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we have been reflecting on our digital accessibility maturity and looking at ways in which we can innovate in this area.

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The Chief Diversity Officer who is here this evening, Professor Tim Soutphommasane

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is spearheading the digital accessibility agenda, and I am pleased to announce that we are currently recruiting for a new role,

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a Head of Digital Accessibility, who will be tasked with implementing an institution-wide digital accessibility strategy

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and with overseeing a programme to embed accessibility in all of our digital activities.

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I look forward to moving towards a more inclusive digital culture in the University of Oxford.

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Understanding the need to reflect on our culture and on our attitudes towards disability brings us back to this evening.

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Our colleagues in the Disability Advisory Group and the Equality and Diversity Unit,

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with support from the Disabled Staff Network, have worked together to bring us tonight's event and for which I,

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on your behalf, thank them. And we are very, very pleased to warmly welcome back Beth Kume-Holland, a graduate of Pembroke College –

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– we overlapped just a little bit there – and a Harvard University Kennedy Scholar to deliver this year's 10th disability lecture.

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Through her lived experience, Beth will explore the topic of less visible disabilities and chronic illness.

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And she will share a glimpse into her own journey from Oxford undergraduate and researcher to award-winning

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CEO and international disability rights advocate. With a varied CV working for the disability charity Scope,

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Oxford University and Citibank, Beth has established herself as an award-winning social entrepreneur who has been

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named by the Shaw Trust as one of the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK.

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She is the founder of Patchwork Hub, a disabled-led social enterprise providing an accessible jobs board,

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bespoke recruitment services and training and consultancy for employers.

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She is also the co-founder of the Disabled Entrepreneurs Network,

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and was recently announced as a Commissioner on the UK's Independent Commission on Healthier Working Lives.

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Beth, thank you so much for giving us the honour of coming here this evening to speak and a very warm welcome back to Oxford. Thank you. (Applause)

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BETH KUME-HOLLAND: So we do the awkward set up.

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Great. Hopefully you can all hear me okay. Perfect.

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So thank you so much for that kind introduction, Vice Chancellor.

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And thank you all for joining this evening. I really am genuinely honoured to be back in Oxford and with you today.

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And also special thanks to Dr Catherine Walter and Sarah Stephenson-Hunter

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for the invite, and the wider EDU's work for not only organising today's event,

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but the genuine commitment to the agenda and accessibility that I've got to witness since we connected last year.

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So good evening everyone. Before we get going, and in the interest of accessibility, as a visual description of myself,

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I'm a 29-year-old white woman with long brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a black and pink floral dress.

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And some ill-advised black heels.

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And just to add, I will be using slides throughout the lecture, but they will just be capturing the content

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I'm also speaking. In any places where this isn't the case, I'll just give a quick visual description.

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The other thing I like to share is I have a cognitive impairment,

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which can affect my communication at times and presents all sorts of barriers in an environment like this, alongside the physical.

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So if at any point my words come out jumbled, or I seem to be looking at my notes more than the average presenter, this is why.

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True disability inclusion in action. Being back in Oxford with such an incredible platform to speak about disability

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inclusion means an awful lot to me. My time as a student at Oxford,

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trying to deal with confusing and undiagnosed conditions and symptoms, alongside the rigorous academic side of things, wasn't a simple one.

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But in so many ways, my time at Oxford completely changed my trajectory for the better,

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and I'm very grateful for the time I spent here and the people here who supported me.

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But more of that and my story in a sec.

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Today I'm honoured to be delivering the 10th Annual Disability Lecture: Changing the Narrative around Disability: From Unseen to Understood.

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The aim of this evening's lecture is to provide a bit of an insight into some of the key issues around disability and accessibility.

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I know we're lucky enough to be joined in the audience tonight,

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in the room and online with an incredible array of academics, students, staff, professionals and advocates.

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And my hope is that regardless of your existing knowledge around disability inclusion, there'll be something by way of insights and takeaways for each of you.

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Now, I've been out of academia far too long, but one of the things I do remember is the rule drummed into me by my tutors for all of my essays.

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Keep it simple, and remember the power of threes.

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So, with this in mind, today we'll be exploring the who, the why and the how of disability and disability inclusion.

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So first up, Who? Who are we actually talking about when we talk about disabled people?

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And who am I to be talking to you today on such a topic? Next, Why?

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Why does accessibility and disability inclusion matter

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across individuals, organisations and wider society?

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And finally, How? How can we all make a difference to both the disability rights movement generally,

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but specifically the experiences of students, staff, and beyond at institutions like Oxford?

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Even at speaking events like this, I don't just want to pontificate, I want...

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I think it's so important to give everyone some actionable take-aways that you can begin to use in your day-to-day life.

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So that will be around 50 minutes or so long.

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And then we'll finish off by handing over to you for a Q&A where I'll try my best to answer any questions you might have.

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So who am I? So today I'm an entrepreneur and disability advocate, and my day job's spent running my business, Patchwork Hub,

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which is a social enterprise that helps organisations to become more disability

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inclusive and accessible through our jobs board, training, and consultancy services.

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I also do a range of work focussed on closing the disability employment gap in the UK,

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creating a more inclusive future of work and just trying to break down some of those

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needless barriers that get in the way of so many talented people in this country.

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But working in disability inclusion and starting my own business wasn't part of some grand plan.

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And to be honest, neither was going to Oxford. Growing up, I didn't think that university, no less Oxford or Harvard, were for people like me.

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My parents didn't go to university, and my school certainly didn't feel equipped to prepare people for Oxbridge.

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But I got a lucky break at 17, when I was fortunate enough to be accepted into an access program here called

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the UNIQ Summer School, for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

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And it was this summer school that convinced me that maybe university could be for me, and maybe somewhere like Oxford was worth a shot.

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And, well, I'm so very glad I did. It certainly wasn't an easy journey.

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I had a host of health complications across teenage years.

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At the time, we weren't sure what they were.

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Like so many people living with chronic health conditions, it was a case of a lot of appointments, but very little by way of diagnosis or answers.

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Then during my first year at Oxford, I became particularly unwell, caught glandular fever and, to be blunt, never recovered.

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Combined with an autoimmune condition, over a number of years

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this caused me to develop fibromyalgia, and subsequently triggered a range of underlying genetic and limiting chronic health conditions.

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It's a trajectory that will now perhaps sound more familiar,

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since society has become increasingly aware of how viral illnesses can trigger long term impacts during the Covid 19 pandemic and Long Covid.

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So that you have a couple of examples of what that means in terms of symptoms I live with in practice:

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So fibromyalgia means my brain misinterprets nerve signals as pain signals.

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And I live with a great deal of chronic pain. ME/CFS gives me intense brain fog and post exertional malaise after physical and mental activities,

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which I should know will not just fix itself by exercising more.

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EDS, or Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, affects my connective tissues and means I regularly and easily dislocate or sublux my joints.

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And POTS, or Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, means that my blood vessels don't properly pump blood back up my body.

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And when I stand, I can faint if I have to stand still for long periods.

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Obviously, each condition I have is wide-ranging and complex, and includes a range of other symptoms,

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but it's hopefully helpful just to have a couple of examples of what my conditions mean in practice.

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I'm also not just telling you so you know more about me.

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I'm telling you, because my experiences of navigating chronic illness at Oxford, then Harvard, and then when I started my own business,

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serve to contextualise where I'm coming from and what I'm about to put forward.

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They also hopefully illustrate some of the barriers that at least this disabled person has faced in education and work,

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as well as support and help I received along the way. During my time at Oxford, I got very lucky.

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I'm sure I don't need to tell most of you here that eight-week Oxford terms can be intense,

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and they just don't leave a lot of scope for fluctuating health conditions and health emergencies.

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I got lucky because I was fortunate enough to have some tutors and a mentor that just got it.

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He worked with me to find a sustainable path forward,

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particularly at points in my second year while I was recovering from an operation and really wasn't well.

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My tutor that term was flexible, empathetic, and trusted that I would get the work done if he gave me space to do it in a way that worked for me.

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At the same time, I was lucky that my family were only a short drive away in West London,

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and that my friends and those around my college, like the porters, were wonderfully supportive and looked out for me.

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Even with the support, Oxford was hard and had an impact on my health.

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But I truly believe that the understanding and support I got from key people was the difference between graduating and having a successful time here,

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versus having to pause or stop altogether.

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I came to realise how lucky I was because unfortunately, things were quite different for me when, after graduating from Oxford,

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and spending a year working here as a Research Fellow, and some time as a researcher at Citibank,

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I got a Kennedy scholarship to go to Harvard. At Harvard,

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suddenly I was an ocean away from my family and wider support network, and unfortunately,

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I came up against some inflexibility and barriers in both the institutional 'way things are done', and from individuals I was working with.

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To give one example, at an institutional level: even though I'd registered my conditions and provided medical documentation of my impairments

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prior to arriving at Harvard Grad School, because I wasn't a primary wheelchair user,

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I was given a room up eight flights of stairs with no lift and no other suitable alternatives.

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This meant there were periods of the year through which I was completely confined to my room,

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because my illness meant I physically couldn't climb the stairs to leave my floor, and I was relying on friends to bring me food.

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This was hard and had many long term impacts, something which I'm sure anyone else in the audience with an energy-limiting condition

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whether ME/CFS, Long COVID or anything else can attest to. On the academic side of things.

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I was super excited to have the chance to study film-making as part of my studies,

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something I'd always wanted to do, with big, grandiose dreams of telling people stories and maybe becoming the next Spielberg.

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So I secured my place on two film courses, and excitedly rocked up to the film-making department.

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But when I arrived,

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it turned out that the standard camera equipment for us to create our films was an extraordinary heavy camera, tripod and separate mic boxes,

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which, to my horror, we'd be required to take on our own to every shoot.

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Given I could barely lift the camera to waist height, let alone carry it for hours on end,

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I quietly asked for a meeting with my professor and assistant, and requested an adjustment to use my own personal camera,

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which was compatible with all of the software but, crucially, was lightweight.

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Sadly, I was told that this just wasn't possible, as it wasn't something they'd done before and

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thought it wouldn't allow for a level playing field for other people on the course.

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So I just tried my best to make it work, but it had a real impact on my symptoms,

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took up so much of my head space trying to manage, and just sucked the enjoyment out of a course I'd been so looking forward to.

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I used to find it almost comical each week when we presented our footage in class to see how everything was getting on.

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My professor would remark on how I seemed to be relying on the tripod quite a lot, and how my handheld shots were extremely shaky.

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Funnily enough, I wasn't actually trying out a new artistic approach to cinematography.

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I literally just couldn't hold the camera to waist height. And these are just two examples where adjustments could have easily been made.

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I could have had a room with far fewer stairs up to it. The whole block was graduate accommodation.

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It wouldn't have been that difficult. And ultimately, using a lighter camera might have differed from others,

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but for relatively little impact in real terms, it would have allowed me to focus on my filmmaking,

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learn more, and develop skills using a piece of equipment I might actually be able to use in the future.

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To their credit, the Accessibility Office did try their best to help in various ways,

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as impacts on my mental and physical health became clear across the year.

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And I know it's something they've made strides on since, but both examples just needed a bit of flexibility,

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and the lack of it had a profound experience on my time there.

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Most of the people I interacted with at Harvard were trying to do what they believed was the right thing to do.

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The majority of the issues rose from a lack of awareness and understanding of the barriers different disabled people can face,

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often driven by a lack of exposure to people who had access requirements that differed from the norm.

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And I think part of the issue was that the people who I was speaking to had a very traditional view of what a disabled person was

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that I didn't fit, because my disabilities were invisible or non apparent.

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Despite all of the medical evidence and advocacy and all of the things going on with my health,

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they kept seeing a seemingly non-disabled young person in front of them, rather than the unseen realities of my chronic illness.

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They too often framed my requests as wanting some sort of special treatment,

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rather than just needing help to navigate barriers that most other students weren't having to think about.

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And just to add a quick visual description on the slide here. On the left is a picture of me smiling at the camera,

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while on the right is the same picture with a range of some of my symptoms that I mentioned earlier spelled out around me.

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I think reflecting on those different experiences really crystallised for me that you can only go

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so far relying on individuals to do the right thing, or even know what the right thing is,

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especially in the face of inaccessible and rigid processes and procedures within

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organisations or institutions, and that can throw up all sorts of unnecessary barriers.

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Ultimately, leaving disabled people to navigate adjustments

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person to person leaves them open to individual ignorance and puts a big unfair burden of self-advocacy on them.

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However, and as a hopeful point for everyone to take away,

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I also came to realise the power and impact that individuals can have for disabled people if they're willing to listen and be flexible.

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My time at Oxford showed that individual allies can genuinely transform a disabled person's experience of otherwise inaccessible situations.

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My experiences at Harvard did also do one very important thing.

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Far more so than any time previously, they made me identify as disabled and think about my disability identity.

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I was forced to advocate for myself to try to get the adjustments I needed in a way I hadn't had to before,

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and it was in facing these assumptions and ignorance and deciding to try to change things for the better

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that led me to get very involved in wider-reaching disability advocacy work in the States,

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which eventually took me to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to meet with Congress and Senators.

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And it was actually during one of these trips in 2019, where I was sitting around the table listening to the stories of incredible,

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highly skilled individuals who'd been forced to stop work because of barriers they were facing

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that I had the initial idea for Patchwork Hub. Across my advocacy efforts, I met so many people like me who were wanting and able to work,

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but who just faced so many barriers due to inaccessible conventional work practices and cultures.

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I began thinking about the potential of creating an accessible employment platform, through which users could connect with inclusive employers,

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access training and support, and facilitate a different way of working

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that broke down some of the unnecessary barriers they were facing in the world of work.

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It should be noted, of course, that for many people living with moderate to severe conditions like ME,

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Long Covid or others, work often isn't an option.

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So I think we need to be really careful when talking about removing barriers that we do recognise

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the fact that some people are too unwell to work, and it really is as simple as that.

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In support, however, of those who were able to work, the more I thought about this founding idea, the more convinced I became of its potential.

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So when I returned to the UK, I started work on Patchwork Hub, and I've been pushing things forward ever since.

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Through my work at Patchwork Hub I've met so many amazing people,

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whether it's the job seekers who we connect with inclusive work opportunities;

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people driving the change around disability inclusion within organisations across the country;

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or other disabled founders and entrepreneurs who are doing amazing things across so many sectors.

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But in my work with employers and jobseekers, I've also really come to appreciate the extent to which unnecessary barriers in the way things are done

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are holding back so many talented people, either excluding them from the workplace,

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pushing them into less secure employment, or halting their career progression and their ability to thrive and work in a sustainable way.

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And whilst the business I built is trying to tackle the persistent barriers within workplaces and society, I still hadn't quite expected,

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when I broke away to embark on my own vision, the extent to which I would come up against those same barriers in the world of entrepreneurship.

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First of all, even in 2024, there's still a real macho tech-bro culture around innovation and the startup space, both from entrepreneurs and investors.

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There's really quite an ingrained sense that to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be hustling or burning the candle at both ends –

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almost to the extent of glorifying concepts like burnout. Now, for someone like me with fluctuating health conditions and chronic fatigue,

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This can often make me feel like I'm falling behind, or there's pressure to push myself in really detrimental ways.

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There are, of course, some really amazing inclusive accelerators, investors and funds that are starting to disrupt that a bit.

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But I think it's worth flagging how exclusionary the current mainstream startup culture as a whole can be.

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And that's not just for disabled entrepreneurs. In many spaces I find myself in,

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I'm not just the only disabled person,

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but the only woman in the room, with an equally notable exclusion of people of colour and other marginalised groups.

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Very much linked to this are attitudinal barriers that get in the way of disabled entrepreneurship:

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the assumptions that people make about disabled people and the lives they can lead, the skills they can have and the things they can achieve.

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For example, far too often people have assumed that because I'm disabled,

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my business would naturally be some charity style, small-scale lifestyle business,

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or that because I'm working in disability inclusion that my services and expertise should be provided to them for free.

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Often when I explain that I run my own business to new people, I'm met with a well-meaning but somewhat patronising

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'Oh, good for you, keeping yourself occupied, despite everything', rather than just taking me seriously as an entrepreneur and a business leader.

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And for many of my disabled peers,

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there's also a really ingrained assumption that the only thing disabled people can be leaders in is disability inclusion,

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and that the disabled entrepreneur must be doing something disability related.

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We need to normalise the idea of disabled people being experts in areas that aren't just disability.

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In fundraising as well,

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I can guarantee that I'll have a completely different level of conversations with investors when they don't realise I'm disabled,

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compared to if I walk into the room with my stick or in my power chair.

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And I don't mean in a good way. In the past, potential investors have literally dialled down the amounts we're talking about

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once they realise I'm personally disabled or the nature of the conditions that I live with.

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A lot of this is down to ignorance and a lack of awareness, driven by a lack of representation, which can fuel so many stereotypes.

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But I did just want to highlight these barriers,

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as I think they're really relevant to thinking about the broader underlying cultural and systemic barriers that pervade all institutions,

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workplaces, and the general narrative we have around disability in this country.

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What I've gone through so far is very much my own story and some of the barriers I've experienced and witnessed.

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But something I really want to stress – perhaps obvious, but still something worth saying – is the diversity within the disabled community.

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The story I know most about is my own, but disability is such a broad umbrella that encompasses a wide variety of lived experiences,

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all the while intersecting in complex ways with other parts of our identity.

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So I now want to broaden things out and look at disability in the round: who we mean when we talk about disabled people and what ways we

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can start to understand and conceptualise the array of barriers that different disabled people may have to navigate in their daily lives.

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So when we talk about disabled people, who are we actually talking about?

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So the definition of disability according to the 2010 Equality Act is somebody has a physical or mental

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impairment which has a substantial and long term negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.

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Now, just because it's interesting to see what people's perceptions are,

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and also just to check it also with me, can I ask you what percentage of the UK population you think has a disability?

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So there's three options on the slide. 15%. 21% or 24%.

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Not to bring it back to school too much, but if I can ask those in the room to raise your hands or otherwise indicate in whatever way you're able

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A: 15%. B: 21%.

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... or C: 24%. Interesting.

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I put this before I realised I can't see the zoom chat to see the responses,

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but in the room we've got some Bs and some Cs. And actually C: 24% of the British population are disabled,

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according to the latest government data published earlier this year, which is over 16 million people.

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And it's actually a bit of a sneaky trick question for anybody that said B, because it was 21% until a couple of years ago with the census.

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So now I'd like to ask you to guess what proportion of disabled people you think are wheelchair users.

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So we have 7, 14% or 35%.

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So who thinks it's A: 7%? OK, quite a lot.

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B: 14%. OK, and C: 35%.

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More of a mixed bag. So correct answer is in fact just 7%.

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And actually, recent studies have shown that fewer than 3% of disabled people are full-time wheelchair users.

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The remaining 4% are ambulatory wheelchair users like me, meaning they can walk but use a wheelchair some of the time for certain purposes.

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Now, I think this is really interesting because if I ask you to close your eyes and imagine a disabled person,

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I think more often that not, your mind might immediately think of somebody with a visible impairment, such as a wheelchair user.

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And in fact, the icon of somebody in a wheelchair is the universally recognised symbol of disability.

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But in fact, as we've just seen, 93% of disabled people are not wheelchair users. According to the WHO's World Report on Disability,

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over 1.85 billion people globally are living with a disability, and of these,

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over 80% of disabilities are non-visible, with 450 million living with a mental or neurological condition.

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So a lot of disabled people might not conform to society's stereotypical view of disabled.

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And I think this is something to watch out for in your own thinking around approaching disability and access.

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It's also important to note that many people with disabilities might not seek medical help.

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For example, around two thirds of those with a mental or neurological condition are thought not to have done.

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And this number of people living with a disability is rising as we battle global trends such as an ageing population and most recently,

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the Covid 19 pandemic.

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Something I'd like to do in today's lecture is to highlight that disability might be affecting us all in ways you might not necessarily realise.

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So nearly 1 in 4 of the British population now live with a disability.

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And yet repeatedly, results in studies have shown that almost half the population say they don't know a disabled person.

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There's many systemic reasons for this, with ongoing challenges around disability, poverty and isolation.

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But another reason for this disconnect is people not necessarily realising or recognising impairments and health conditions as disabilities,

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or identifying as disabled. And I'm very aware that whilst I now proudly self-identify as disabled, early in my 20s,

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this was something I had an incredibly complex and personal journey with.

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Like I said, it was only really after my experiences at Harvard where I came to realise

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that as a really cool part of my identity. And young me is not alone in this:

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studies have shown that the number of people who meet the Equality Act definition of disabled, but don't self-identify as such, is really sizeable.

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It's actually a good reason why now surveys often ask about disability tend to ask about disability or long term health conditions.

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Because although the world is changing and adapting its awareness of disability, neurodiversity and mental health,

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awareness and representation is still low, even among many people with various health conditions.

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The vast majority, 83% of people with disabilities, weren't born with them, but acquired them during their working life.

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And most of us grow up knowing very little about disability. Sadly, a disabled person's path to becoming disabled is not as simple as being diagnosed.

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It's not like you're handed a booklet that says you're disabled now. And then you've got the fact that it can take a long time before that.

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And I think never has the sentiment had more light shone on it than during the pandemic.

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Awareness of underlying health conditions and the notion of adapting behaviour to protect your

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health and the health of loved ones and strangers was introduced in an unprecedented way.

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Terms like immunocompromised suddenly became a part of commonly understood language,

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and people became acutely aware of being clinically vulnerable from their conditions.

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And then, of course, there's Long Covid, impacting an estimated 2 million people in the UK.

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This has resulted in individuals becoming in some cases severely unwell and disabled almost overnight,

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and now having to come to terms with a wholly new identity.

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And then you've got the fact you can take a long time to receive a diagnosis for many chronic health conditions.

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The average diagnosis time for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and POTS, two of my own conditions, is around 14 years,

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with the number being even higher for under-represented demographics.

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And unfortunately, diagnosis doesn't equal treatment, with waiting lists for treatment of critical conditions still incredibly long.

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So again, for me as a disabled person,

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wanting to take advice and positive steps to at least ease symptoms and improve my situation with things I know would help,

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I'm still on waiting lists six years on from my original diagnosis, which makes it quite hard to make those sorts of improvements.

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Ultimately, awareness of disability remains very low and few people identifying as disabled, combined with a lack of authentic representation,

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helps to fuel misconceptions around what disabled looks like and how we should work to accommodate people.

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So far, many of the stats I've quoted have talked about disabled people as one community.

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But I really want to stress there's very much no one-size-fits-all view of disability.

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Different health conditions and disabilities can require radically different accommodations,

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while even people with similar conditions and impairments can have different needs and experiences.

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My lived experience of my disability is my own, and every disabled person will have a different experience with their disability.

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And as with all marginalisations,

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it's also really important to consider intersectionality and how different parts of people's identities will impact their experience.

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For example, as a female disabled entrepreneur from a lower socioeconomic background, I'll experience different barriers than others,

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whilst being a white woman affords me privileges that people from other backgrounds would not have.

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Looking at disability without this intersectional lens is a non-starter.

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But even in 2024, the disability space in the UK is still incredibly white and heteronormative.

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We need to work as a movement to listen to, platform, and learn about the experiences of ethnic minority

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disabled people, LGBTQ+ disabled people, and other minorities within the disabled community.

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So what does this all mean? Well, it means that when we're trying to be inclusive and provide an accessible environment for people with disabilities,

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we always have to start with the individual and their specific needs.

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We need to set up ways to listen to them and ask them, as experts in their own experience.

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And considering the different aspects of their identity is of paramount importance here.

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So while there's good general practice you can learn and we'll be discussing,

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when approaching disability, it's always vital to remember to listen to individuals when they tell you the barriers

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they're facing and what they need, to capture the complexity of individual circumstances.

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And I think one useful way to do this is making sure you and your peers understand

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and utilise a very key principle and approach: the social model of disability.

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So what is the social model of disability?

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So traditionally when people used to think about disability, they would often think in terms of what's called the medical model.

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The medical model focuses on what's wrong with a person and says that people are disabled by their impairments or differences.

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In contrast, the social model of disability is a way of viewing the world which has people disabled by barriers in society,

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not by their impairment or difference.

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So, for example, a barrier could be being in a wheelchair and unable to get up the stairs because there's no lift.

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In the traditional medical model, this would focus on there being something wrong with the individual in the wheelchair who can't climb the stairs.

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But in the social model, the person is disabled by a lack of access,

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not their condition. When there's a lift put in place, that barrier's removed.

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Barriers can be physical, but they can also be things like digital accessibility –

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a real problem across so much of the internet.

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Or they could be processes and procedures in organisations or cultures and the way of doing things or just simply people's attitudes

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to difference: like assuming there are certain lives disabled people can't lead or things they can't achieve.

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Now, I'm not going to stand up here and tell you I think that the social model is perfect. Like all advocacy tools,

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I personally think it can oversimplify disability a bit. Just in terms of my lived experience,

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it's true that an awful lot of the impacts of my disability could be lessened or mitigated in a society built with disabled people in mind.

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But even in a world where you removed all of society's barriers, I still have chronic pain, daily dislocations and fatigue.

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However, I do think the social model can be and is a very powerful tool for advocacy and for organisational understanding of disability inclusion.

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00:39:04,510 --> 00:39:10,350
And frankly, my life would be an awful lot nicer if all of society's barriers for disabled people were removed,

388
00:39:10,390 --> 00:39:11,950
even with my symptoms intact.

389
00:39:13,260 --> 00:39:21,210
We can still see the persistent negative impact of the social model of disability in so many aspects of our society and institutions,

390
00:39:21,890 --> 00:39:27,450
most obviously in the media or government framing of disabled people as a problem to be solved,

391
00:39:27,990 --> 00:39:31,710
rather than as a community living in a society not built with them in mind,

392
00:39:31,830 --> 00:39:36,110
and who should be engaged with. What's always really interesting

393
00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:45,949
in all of this is looking back at March 2020. Society in just a few weeks was able to make the adjustments and remove barriers to remote

394
00:39:45,950 --> 00:39:50,660
and flexible working that disabled people had been asking for and denied for decades,

395
00:39:51,290 --> 00:39:55,610
demonstrating the art of what's possible when the will and desire is there to implement it.

396
00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:05,710
So the social model's strength is in placing responsibility on all of us in society, in the workplace or institutions we're part of,

397
00:40:05,950 --> 00:40:11,230
to remove these barriers rather than wrongly writing off disabled people as a problem, or broken.

398
00:40:12,310 --> 00:40:16,929
And for me it's quite empowering for everyone. Because if the problem is society,

399
00:40:16,930 --> 00:40:23,050
it means every one of us can play our role in making things better and pushing for a more equitable and inclusive future.

400
00:40:24,310 --> 00:40:28,630
But - and actually, this is a question that gets put to me far more often than you would like or hope.

401
00:40:28,930 --> 00:40:33,190
While we can all play our part to drive change. Why is this change actually needed?

402
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:40,570
Why is disability inclusion important? Well, first and foremost, this is a basic fairness issue.

403
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:49,039
Like so many other marginalised communities, disabled people are living in a society not built with us in mind, which holds them back,

404
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:57,870
and which stops them from thriving and contributing in a way they could. And I find it sad that this moral argument is so often sidelined and deprioritised.

405
00:40:58,530 --> 00:41:04,410
It often feels like we need to make the case that disability inclusion would be economically beneficial for the majority,

406
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:09,389
or we need to link it to the personal interests of non-disabled people by reminding

407
00:41:09,390 --> 00:41:13,410
them that disability is a category that any of us can join at a moment's notice.

408
00:41:14,530 --> 00:41:21,040
Fundamentally, I feel really strongly that disability inclusion is a good in and of itself without any of these other justifications.

409
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,060
But having said that, there is a massive cost to society from being so inaccessible.

410
00:41:28,050 --> 00:41:32,190
Every day, I'm blown away by the talent in the disabled community.

411
00:41:33,190 --> 00:41:39,070
And every day, I'm equally frustrated by the way that that talent is blocked, derailed and marginalised.

412
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:46,360
In other words, there's a massive opportunity cost to our current inaccessible society and inaccessible workplaces.

413
00:41:47,250 --> 00:41:51,029
And that's all the amazing things that disabled people would have gone on

414
00:41:51,030 --> 00:41:55,530
to be able to do, if they'd just been able to get on and do it in a setup that works for them,

415
00:41:55,950 --> 00:42:01,650
rather than having to spend all their time, effort and money navigating a needlessly inaccessible world.

416
00:42:02,930 --> 00:42:06,980
And I think this is something that we can recognise and extend across marginalised communities.

417
00:42:07,460 --> 00:42:13,160
Inclusivity and accessibility is not just nice to have, as it feels far too often it's framed as.

418
00:42:14,030 --> 00:42:19,280
There's an immense cost to all of us for our lack of inclusivity, and that's all of the insights,

419
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:26,990
creativity and progress we're missing out on because people aren't given the same chances and opportunities as others in our society.

420
00:42:28,190 --> 00:42:30,980
And it's the same in organisations and institutions.

421
00:42:31,850 --> 00:42:39,020
If you've got barriers that are stopping you from recruiting disabled people or cutting potential disabled students off for application processes,

422
00:42:39,530 --> 00:42:46,820
or disrupting their efforts once they're at university, that's a sizeable portion of the population you're missing out on or marginalising.

423
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:51,830
And you're missing out on people that are great problem solvers, compassionate leaders,

424
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:55,489
and innovators who likely bring different and fresh perspectives,

425
00:42:55,490 --> 00:43:02,510
tasks, and topics alongside many additional skills honed from navigating an often inaccessible world.

426
00:43:03,740 --> 00:43:08,000
However, in almost all countries there's a large disability employment gap,

427
00:43:08,810 --> 00:43:12,380
with the employment rates for disabled people much lower than non-disabled people.

428
00:43:13,380 --> 00:43:20,100
In the UK, it's remained relatively stagnant, moving from low 30 percents to high 20 percents over the last decade or so.

429
00:43:21,110 --> 00:43:24,950
And that's before we get onto career progression and the disability pay gap,

430
00:43:25,820 --> 00:43:30,410
which we can't even measure properly because the data just isn't being collected in the way it needs to be.

431
00:43:31,670 --> 00:43:39,410
Yet, it's been repeatedly proven by research and studies that disability-inclusive companies outperform their peers in terms of revenue,

432
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,370
retention rates, productivity, and reduced sickness absence.

433
00:43:44,060 --> 00:43:48,440
So society as a whole is missing out on excluded disabled talent.

434
00:43:49,250 --> 00:43:54,560
But so are organisations and institutions up and down the country. It's costing us all.

435
00:43:56,490 --> 00:44:03,450
And my next point around Why? Well, accessibility and disability inclusion is vital for disabled people.

436
00:44:04,140 --> 00:44:08,730
Environments set up in an inclusive and accessible way ultimately benefit everyone.

437
00:44:09,910 --> 00:44:14,229
There are so many cohorts beyond disabled people that can benefit from a strong

438
00:44:14,230 --> 00:44:19,420
foundation in disability inclusion and accessibility across all parts of society.

439
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:21,590
As a simple start,

440
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:29,360
businesses that know how to support disabled employees effectively will likely be better placed to support people with shorter term illnesses.

441
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:37,039
I'm currently a Commissioner for the Commission for Healthy Working Lives, and I was actually really shocked by the work that the Health Foundation,

442
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:43,640
Resolution Foundation and others feeding into that commission found around the rising ill health across the working age of the UK,

443
00:44:43,820 --> 00:44:46,940
but especially among the younger cohorts of the workforce.

444
00:44:48,330 --> 00:44:54,150
To me, a really necessary requirement is to get disability inclusion right, with the right systems in place,

445
00:44:54,390 --> 00:45:00,810
and use that as a fundamental basis and template for creating a healthy way of working that benefits everyone.

446
00:45:02,370 --> 00:45:08,190
It's an issue that's been getting a lot of coverage over the last few weeks, even this week and today.

447
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,230
And I probably don't need to clarify that for me,

448
00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:20,160
it's clearly really damaging and wrong to continually frame disabled people, and those out of work due to sickness, as the problem,

449
00:45:20,670 --> 00:45:27,570
or question the validity of the health and accessibility challenges people face, as the current government narrative seems intent on doing.

450
00:45:28,620 --> 00:45:35,040
The problem is the barriers, the inaccessibility, and the practices that amplify ill health, not the people,

451
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:39,359
and I think any serious solutions would address that. Overall

452
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:44,580
for me, workplaces that are truly disability-inclusive are going to understand how to flex

453
00:45:44,580 --> 00:45:49,110
around people's needs and circumstances to help them put their best selves forward.

454
00:45:49,860 --> 00:45:53,520
And if harnessed, this ultimately unlocks benefits for everyone,

455
00:45:54,300 --> 00:46:02,910
whether it's the 5 million unpaid and often unrecognised carers in the UK, parents who need that flexibility for childcare,

456
00:46:04,020 --> 00:46:07,140
people who thrive with different communication styles and ways of learning,

457
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:11,850
or just the natural variation of lives that people are balancing outside of the workplace.

458
00:46:12,690 --> 00:46:16,470
Disability inclusion, accessibility, and the lessons they teach

459
00:46:16,470 --> 00:46:19,740
are vital for disabled people and neurodivergent people.

460
00:46:20,190 --> 00:46:24,720
But I truly believe they benefit everyone. So this means

461
00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:30,870
that I really have to bite my tongue sometimes when I speak to employers and organisations around diversity and inclusion,

462
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:37,020
and they tell me they're focusing on addressing other areas such as gender or ethnicity, before getting to disability.

463
00:46:37,530 --> 00:46:39,000
And yes, they do say this a lot.

464
00:46:40,020 --> 00:46:47,880
The reason for my frustration is because these things are all linked in a way such a siloed view of diversity and inclusion pillars misses.

465
00:46:48,830 --> 00:46:55,040
And one key thing to remember is that for all types of demographics, disabled people are part of them all.

466
00:46:55,340 --> 00:46:58,310
And it's why intersectionality is so absolutely crucial.

467
00:46:59,500 --> 00:47:05,920
Ultimately, disability inclusion is a basic fairness issue, and that alone should be enough to make us care.

468
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:11,010
But it's also a massive benefit for us all across society and organisations.

469
00:47:11,730 --> 00:47:17,520
We benefit from harnessing disabled talent and diversity of thought it brings, rather than putting barriers in the way.

470
00:47:18,180 --> 00:47:25,230
And we all directly benefit from some of the lessons of accessibility and flexibility that disability inclusion has at its core.

471
00:47:26,900 --> 00:47:30,229
So I've talked a lot about the issues and why they're important.

472
00:47:30,230 --> 00:47:34,580
But for me, it's vital when you engage people on issues like disability inclusion,

473
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:38,060
you don't just flag the problems, but you actually start to broach solutions.

474
00:47:39,050 --> 00:47:43,790
And I don't just mean long term, complex societal and organisational changes.

475
00:47:44,300 --> 00:47:50,870
I mean things that every one of us, across our different walks of life, can start to think about and take action around immediately.

476
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:57,140
Because while I think that ultimately a lot of the change needed does need to happen at that macro level,

477
00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:04,010
as I said earlier, I know from my own experiences the power of individuals in lowering barriers for those they manage,

478
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:11,510
those they tutor and educate, and those they interact with. So I'm going to go through a mix of small and slightly larger actions that can really

479
00:48:11,510 --> 00:48:15,650
make a difference in creating more disability inclusive and accessible environments.

480
00:48:17,140 --> 00:48:25,420
My first suggestion is perhaps the simplest. Take the burden of raising adjustments and access requirements off of the disabled individual.

481
00:48:26,750 --> 00:48:32,990
Too often, the burden is currently on the disabled person themselves to raise the issue of adjustments or accommodations,

482
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:39,350
which relies on their confidence and personality, and impacts the process for them in getting what they need to thrive.

483
00:48:40,250 --> 00:48:46,760
It can take a lot of energy to constantly advocate for and proactively bring up access requirements or adjustments.

484
00:48:47,570 --> 00:48:50,270
Disclosing your disability can be a really scary thing.

485
00:48:51,020 --> 00:48:57,500
A study by BUPA found that over 2/5 of those with less visible disabilities hadn't disclosed them to their employers.

486
00:48:58,470 --> 00:49:07,080
So it's about creating a culture for disclosure. And not only this, but it's also important that, especially in university settings or early careers,

487
00:49:07,710 --> 00:49:12,120
often for many students living with undiagnosed or newly diagnosed conditions,

488
00:49:12,690 --> 00:49:17,820
this may well be the first time they've gone through the process and concept of reasonable adjustments.

489
00:49:18,060 --> 00:49:19,620
And it may be completely new to them.

490
00:49:20,670 --> 00:49:26,100
Yet, I can tell you from personal experience and from speaking to countless disabled candidates and job seekers,

491
00:49:26,670 --> 00:49:32,490
there's nothing quite like the feeling of relief when someone asks first if there's any adjustments you need,

492
00:49:32,850 --> 00:49:38,800
and comes across as just genuinely wanting to help. So how can we implement this in practice?

493
00:49:39,310 --> 00:49:44,740
Well, if you manage people, it's as simple as proactively asking everyone when they start working for you,

494
00:49:45,190 --> 00:49:51,880
and at checkpoints throughout your work with them, if they have any access requirements and how you can set them up for success.

495
00:49:52,770 --> 00:49:57,540
If you're tutoring students, bringing it up at the start of each term can be really powerful.

496
00:49:58,410 --> 00:50:03,030
And if you manage recruitment or even within the interview process for entry to Oxford,

497
00:50:03,660 --> 00:50:07,619
proactively asking whether adjustments can be made, and then returning to the question

498
00:50:07,620 --> 00:50:10,950
as a standard part of any communication with them throughout the process.

499
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:15,440
Making this part of mainstream communication to all students,

500
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:23,330
applicants, and staff can take a huge burden off of people and will benefit you in turn if you're providing support.

501
00:50:24,380 --> 00:50:28,939
Flagging how adjustments can be raised at every stage and signalling clearly that

502
00:50:28,940 --> 00:50:32,780
your priority is helping people put their best selves forward isn't costly,

503
00:50:33,260 --> 00:50:38,750
but it's a powerful message that your team, organisation, or institution cares about its talent.

504
00:50:40,450 --> 00:50:45,310
My second suggestion is a more organisational one: mandatory disability awareness

505
00:50:45,310 --> 00:50:49,150
training for those in positions of management or pastoral responsibility.

506
00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:52,520
From my work in organisations across the UK,

507
00:50:53,240 --> 00:50:58,130
I've seen the importance of line managers as the people that have the most direct contact with the individual.

508
00:50:58,970 --> 00:51:05,570
You can have the most amazing policies and procedures in place, but if someone's line manager just doesn't get it,

509
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,570
that's often going to be the biggest problem and can make or break the outcomes

510
00:51:09,570 --> 00:51:14,260
for the disabled person. And at educational institutions like Oxford,

511
00:51:14,500 --> 00:51:21,790
I'd extend the concept of line manager to include tutors and those in pastoral positions of responsibility across colleges, alongside others.

512
00:51:23,170 --> 00:51:26,950
And while I fully acknowledge that training is only one part of the solution,

513
00:51:27,460 --> 00:51:32,199
what it does do is set that baseline of awareness that makes it just that little bit easier to

514
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:37,810
hold people accountable and question unhelpful or even unacceptable attitudes and behaviours.

515
00:51:39,730 --> 00:51:44,890
My third suggestion is something we can all improve on and practice around different aspects of our life:

516
00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:50,410
accessible communications. Another one of these things that's essential for some, but useful for all.

517
00:51:51,580 --> 00:51:55,060
Whilst this is vital for company, university, or college comms,

518
00:51:55,450 --> 00:51:59,740
it's equally important for all of us, even if it's just our social media.

519
00:52:00,790 --> 00:52:03,940
Accessible communications could take up a whole discussion of its own.

520
00:52:04,210 --> 00:52:11,500
But I thought I'd just leave you with a few priority quick wins that anybody who uses social media can ensure they're implementing from now on.

521
00:52:12,670 --> 00:52:18,160
The first of these is for anything you or your company or society puts out on social media:

522
00:52:18,610 --> 00:52:25,300
Please ensure that every image has both alt-text and image descriptions. Alt-text, for anyone unfamiliar,

523
00:52:25,300 --> 00:52:30,250
is a simple description of an image and allows users who may be blind or living with low

524
00:52:30,250 --> 00:52:34,690
vision to consume your content as it is read aloud by users of screen reader software.

525
00:52:35,590 --> 00:52:40,600
However, not everyone who benefits from having an image read aloud to them has access to a screen reader,

526
00:52:40,990 --> 00:52:42,790
and this is where image descriptions come in.

527
00:52:43,810 --> 00:52:49,630
Rather than just being read just by screen reading users, they're added in the body of text and can be read by anyone,

528
00:52:50,020 --> 00:52:54,610
normally containing slightly more information around nuances like moods or emotions.

529
00:52:55,450 --> 00:53:01,210
They are added to social media captions, comments, or as the caption to a photo on a web page.

530
00:53:02,340 --> 00:53:05,790
Image descriptions aren't just beneficial for those with visual impairments.

531
00:53:06,150 --> 00:53:10,470
They benefit people with visual processing differences or different learning styles.

532
00:53:11,190 --> 00:53:17,520
For example, autistic or dyslexic people might benefit from having something written in text rather than the image of a text.

533
00:53:18,560 --> 00:53:25,640
People with sensory processing differences, like a chronic pain condition or chronic illness or fatigue can also greatly appreciate them.

534
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:31,370
Next, please ensure that every piece of video content has closed captions.

535
00:53:32,240 --> 00:53:36,860
Not only is this essential to allowing deaf and hard of hearing users to consume your content,

536
00:53:37,460 --> 00:53:43,490
it can also help people with cognitive dysfunction like me, where I benefit from being able to read and listen at the same time.

537
00:53:44,530 --> 00:53:46,830
There's countless other benefits to captioning, too,

538
00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:53,350
especially as studies are showing that up to 80% of people now listen or watch their videos with their sound off.

539
00:53:54,820 --> 00:53:58,570
And a final quick point for anyone using hashtags on social media.

540
00:53:59,230 --> 00:54:05,470
Make sure you CamelCase them. By this I mean capitalise the first letter of each word,

541
00:54:05,650 --> 00:54:11,590
rather than having everything lowercase so that screen readers or those with cognitive disabilities can enjoy your content.

542
00:54:12,670 --> 00:54:19,990
And again, it's so much easier for everyone to understand. For all of you avid watchers of Love Island, I'm sure there's many in the room,

543
00:54:20,530 --> 00:54:27,190
you all know what a revolution it was when, a couple of series ago, they finally started using,

544
00:54:27,220 --> 00:54:30,790
CamelCasing their hashtags – ridiculously long – on their text.

545
00:54:31,910 --> 00:54:36,500
But the point is that whether it's CamelCasing your hashtags or including image descriptions in your images,

546
00:54:36,830 --> 00:54:41,930
these steps might be essential for some disabled people, but they make your content more accessible for everyone.

547
00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:48,500
Now, these are by no means comprehensive suggestions, but hopefully they also don't come across as that complex.

548
00:54:49,190 --> 00:54:52,940
From my perspective, these are the sorts of things that should be commonplace everywhere.

549
00:54:53,420 --> 00:54:55,940
They're completely free and so easy to implement.

550
00:54:56,300 --> 00:55:01,700
And yet it's really, really frustrating the number of people, societies and institutions that just don't.

551
00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:06,370
Digital accessibility is just as important as physical accessibility.

552
00:55:06,850 --> 00:55:11,440
And yet, sadly, 97% of the internet is still inaccessible for assistive technology.

553
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:17,740
And while I don't expect you to be able to solve that on your own, I think we can all do our bit to improve things.

554
00:55:18,940 --> 00:55:25,630
So my fourth and final suggestion is at the individual level and organisational level,

555
00:55:26,140 --> 00:55:30,520
is to think about how you can build flexibility into your ways of working with others.

556
00:55:31,660 --> 00:55:32,790
As I said throughout,

557
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:39,820
it's so important to listen to disabled individuals about the specific barriers they face and the adjustments that might be helpful to them.

558
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:45,430
But it can also be really helpful if you've thought in advance through some basic ways that you could be flexible.

559
00:55:46,490 --> 00:55:49,309
I've already said what a difference it made to me during my time at Oxford,

560
00:55:49,310 --> 00:55:55,610
to have a tutor that was pragmatic and flexible around my essay deadlines and studies while struggling with my health.

561
00:55:56,420 --> 00:55:59,660
But there's more to flexibility than just flexing on timelines.

562
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:06,200
There's communication styles. Colleagues, students, or others may have different ways that they process information.

563
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:10,460
Some might thrive in person, while others will do better virtually.

564
00:56:11,180 --> 00:56:14,990
Some might find it beneficial for you to verbally explain written instructions,

565
00:56:15,410 --> 00:56:19,940
while others might find it easier for you to follow up on any verbal discussions with a written summary.

566
00:56:20,810 --> 00:56:26,539
For everyone here, that just requires us to be aware in our own working practices and thinking through

567
00:56:26,540 --> 00:56:30,140
how we can adapt and flex them to get the best out of those we're working with.

568
00:56:30,890 --> 00:56:38,930
Just like the flexibility you would show for child pick up or post-pandemic return to work when underlying health conditions came to the fore,

569
00:56:39,620 --> 00:56:42,890
it should be no different for supporting disabled staff and students.

570
00:56:44,050 --> 00:56:47,530
And then at the level of things like university courses,

571
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:53,860
just to make things slightly more controversial, flexibility might be around being aware that for some people,

572
00:56:53,890 --> 00:57:01,780
particularly those with fluctuating conditions, who need to be able to accommodate a bad day health-wise, time-bound short bursts of exams

573
00:57:02,140 --> 00:57:07,929
may be a poor way to assess their progress and competency versus things like coursework; or that

574
00:57:07,930 --> 00:57:13,630
spoken word vivas or back and forth verbal entrance interviews might present real hurdles

575
00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:22,140
for some disabled people. Or that numerical, spatial, and other reasoning tests could be a really poor proxy

576
00:57:22,160 --> 00:57:24,680
for whether some disabled people will thrive on the course.

577
00:57:26,110 --> 00:57:33,220
I'm not saying that these things all have super easy fixes, but I do think it's worth any of us involved in process and decision making

578
00:57:33,490 --> 00:57:37,359
taking a step back to think about the potential barriers and possible ways

579
00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:42,470
that flexibility and accommodations can be built in, separate and in advance

580
00:57:42,470 --> 00:57:49,880
of it being raised as an issue by the individual. Asking ourselves every day, are we really doing everything we can?

581
00:57:50,510 --> 00:57:54,080
Are we really being as aware and therefore flexible as we can be?

582
00:57:56,460 --> 00:57:57,689
For the last five years,

583
00:57:57,690 --> 00:58:05,340
I've set a personal goal each day to take an action, however big or small, to make the world and the places I work with more accessible and aware

584
00:58:05,370 --> 00:58:10,440
than when I found them. And I'd like to wrap up this final section by inviting you to do the same.

585
00:58:11,340 --> 00:58:14,970
Accessibility is a journey. You won't always get it right,

586
00:58:15,210 --> 00:58:21,390
but what you can do is challenge yourself to keep learning, and do one thing today to make it better for others tomorrow.

587
00:58:22,740 --> 00:58:27,090
Now I think I've said quite enough, and I'm really keen to hear thoughts from the audience and answer any questions.

588
00:58:27,630 --> 00:58:32,310
But I did just want to end by reiterating a really key point that I hope's been clear across what I said.

589
00:58:33,420 --> 00:58:38,130
It's true that a lot of the barriers that need to be addressed for disabled people are at a societal,

590
00:58:38,160 --> 00:58:43,470
organisational or institutional level, baked into processes, procedures and structures.

591
00:58:44,310 --> 00:58:49,619
However, I can really attest to the fact that individual allies and support can make a huge

592
00:58:49,620 --> 00:58:53,790
difference for disabled people, making a world of difference to our experiences.

593
00:58:54,900 --> 00:58:59,700
And it's vital that we all do more on this because it's simply the right thing to do;

594
00:59:00,690 --> 00:59:05,100
because we're currently missing out on and excluding an extraordinary wealth of talent;

595
00:59:05,730 --> 00:59:13,470
and because ultimately, a more disability-inclusive and accessible society and world is a better one for everyone.

596
00:59:14,820 --> 00:59:18,750
So, all that's left for me to do now is thank you very much for having me here tonight.

597
00:59:18,990 --> 00:59:40,810
It's been a real privilege to talk to you all. Thank you. (Applause)