Still striving for an equal future

Although the appointment of a disabled person to a senior Government policy post is to be welcomed, Andy Rickell says too many disability organisations are still getting away with employing too few disabled people

I am pleased that Tim Cooper, a disabled person, is the new Director of the Office for Disability Issues (ODI). It is consistent and necessary for disabled people’s equality that the key organisations for championing disabled people’s rights are led by disabled people, as we are best placed to understand and address the issues. I am pleased that those in the Government recruitment process that appointed Tim recognised the importance of disabled leadership.

Sadly this commitment is all too rare. Six years ago I wrote an article for The Guardian in which I said of major disability organisations, “They are slow to insist on disabled trustees, and the number of disabled staff is pitiful, particularly at senior levels.” Six years on, little has changed. I am still looking for the opportunity to encourage change in these organisations. Yet again, it may be the Government that will show the way, this time through the Equality Bill.

Firstly, the Equality Bill continues to offer the opportunity to reserve paid jobs for disabled candidates. This is because the new law, like the DDA, protects disabled people over non-disabled people. The ability to reserve a post has been used to good advantage by disabled people’s organisations, and by Scope, as a vehicle to indicate that the best candidate for particular posts will inevitably be disabled.

Secondly, the bill introduces for disabled people the opportunity for an employer to fill a post with a disabled person because it is a “genuine occupational requirement”. As you can reserve posts anyway, this is not strictly needed, but it may encourage more organisations to think seriously about the true purpose of some jobs. Personally, I argue that disabled people are obviously the appropriate people to hold jobs which are about the support and representation of disabled people and the leadership/management of organisations providing disability services and campaigning. It will be interesting to see which organisations are truly enlightened!

Thirdly and most importantly, the bill allows the public sector to spend its massive purchasing budgets in ways that support equality. And here’s a real opportunity for disabled people and our organisations to lobby for. Why shouldn’t the Government set rules which mean that disability organisations must employ at least say 20 per cent disabled people (we are 20 per cent of the potential workforce) and say 50 per cent in senior positions (trustees and management), if they want government contracts? That would make them shift! It would provide a massive impetus to the delivery of user-led services.

These procurement rules could also be changed to deal with another of the most unfair aspects of the existing system. Currently organisations that are truly user-led by disabled people find that the rules for winning government tenders put them at an disadvantage. Local user-led organisations are best placed to deliver some contracts, like direct payments support schemes, yet the system almost deliberately excludes them. Not only should the rules be changed to advantage user-led organisations, but they should also allow government commissioners to seek out user-led organisations and support them to be preferred suppliers. Tell the Government what the Equality Bill could do for us!