Disability History Month
How NICE is becoming a more disability inclusive employer
At NICE we want to build an organisation as brilliant as the people in it, creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable work culture where everyone can thrive.
We're committed to supporting every employee to be able to achieve their potential in their role.
The Disability Advocacy and Wellbeing Network (DAWN) is 1 of 3 equality, diversity and inclusion networks for staff and has around 160 members across NICE.
We are a very motivated group of individuals with seen and/or unseen disabilities, and disability allies (who want to support people with disabilities) collaborating to empower and improve the working life of staff with disabilities at NICE.
DAWN provides a support network for staff with disabilities and a mechanism for those staff to inform and improve our working practices
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
We've just had DAWN's first birthday and this month is UK Disability History month so we asked staff with disabilities what we could do to improve working at NICE. The three themes we identified were:
- To improve support for people with disabilities.
- To help people to access workplace adjustments.
- To raise awareness of DAWN and various disabilities colleagues may have.
Improving support for people with disabilities
Regular DAWN coffee sessions (including one for carers of people with disabilities) are held where staff can get to know each other, support each other, and talk about issues that are important to them.
Issues are then raised anonymously at our monthly DAWN meetings where our members can hear about specific projects that we have been working on.
Helping people to access workplace adjustments
This year we have worked closely with colleagues in Human Resources to co-develop the NICE Disability Passport, which has generated positive feedback from both line managers and employees.
These are living documents that staff with seen and unseen disabilities can use to facilitate meaningful conversations with line managers about their disabilities and reasonable adjustments that will help them in the workplace (which can be temporary or long-term changes as needed). They can also be used to evaluate how well reasonable adjustments are working.
The NICE offices are open plan and DAWN members identified a need for some office space that is quiet and calm as a reasonable adjustment for a number of disabilities. This included people with hearing impairments, neurodivergent and staff who find the noise of an open plan office distracting.
Several DAWN members with different disabilities identified several office adjustments that would benefit staff and have been collaborating with our wonderful colleagues in facilities to see what is feasible. The Quiet and Calm office space in the Manchester office is almost complete. Black out blinds, soundproof boards and lighting adjustments are in the process of being installed. Currently there are black desk mats, desk fans and adjustable height desks available.
There are also going to be ‘office etiquette’ sheets scattered around the whole office to remind people about distracting noises being kept to a minimum, such as email and message alerts, and to be mindful of their colleagues around them. DAWN members are particularly pleased that the location of their workspace can be adapted to assist them in thriving in the office environment.
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
Photo by Fraser Cottrell on Unsplash
Photo by Fraser Cottrell on Unsplash
Raising awareness of DAWN and the various disabilities colleagues may have
One of the key ambitions of DAWN has been to raise awareness of the lived experiences of those with disabilities throughout the year so that our colleagues can develop a better understanding of what it is like to live with a disability and become even better allies in our collective endeavour to empower all staff.
Over the last year we have published informative content on living and working with anxiety, autism, hearing impairments, misdiagnosis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), accessibility, stress and many more! We have also organised awareness raising events for World Suicide Prevention Day, Disability Pride Month, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, World IBD Day and UK Disability History Month.
A year on it feels good to be part of a staff network that making a positive impact on the working environment for people with seen and unseen disabilities. We can’t wait to see what next year brings.
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