Our Breakfast Briefing webinar encouraged attendees to join the #InclusionRevolution as speakers, both with lived experience of disability, shared their personal stories of struggle and triumph. The event called on businesses to be more inclusive, which we believe is key in supporting greater inclusion in wider society.

There are 1.5 million people with learning disabilities living in the UK, but only 6% are in paid employment, despite more than 60% of people saying they want a job. In some areas the employment rate is as low as 0.3%.

With a combined purchasing power of £249bn, people with disabilities account for 1 in 7 consumers. Speakers called on businesses to ensure that people with disabilities are part of the conversation and creation process.

Speaker Sam Latif, P&G’s Company Accessibility Leader shared:

People [with disabilities] need to be inside the company to change things and bring diversity. We consider people’s ethnicity, their wealth and gender, but we’ve never looked at consumers in relation to their disability. What if we did that.

Scott Watkins BEM, SeeAbility’s Head of Engagement shared the important contribution that people with learning disabilities and autism can make to businesses when given the chance:

What I wanted was real paid work, to have a job, to be able to come off my benefits and contribute to society just like anybody else.

Attendees applauded the speakers for their courage to right the wrongs. A viewer commented “[this] so clearly reiterated the importance of getting the right message to other organisations as to how they can incorporate people with disabilities not only into their workforce but also into their spaces of influence”.

Concluding the event, Lisa Hopkins, SeeAbility CEO added “If you change the culture, you can change anything. We need to change people’s assumptions”.

View the webinar here: