Legally Disabled have published their latest research on the impact of Covid-19 on the employment and training of disabled lawyers in England and Wales: opportunities for job-redesign and best practice.
The key findings in the report highlights how increased remote working and more flexibility with reasonable adjustments could make the legal profession more accessible to disabled lawyers.
This second piece of research builds up the original report on ‘The Career Experiences of Disabled People in the Legal Profession in England and Wales’ which was published at the beginning of the year and is based on a survey that was undertaken of just over 100 people over July and August 2020.
While remote working comes with its own challenges, it is clear from the report that remote and flexible working is providing disabled lawyers with more choice, more autonomy and is most cases more control allowing them to level the playing field.
Genuine flexible working gives individuals reasonable control over when, where and how they work their hours. This is particularly important for disabled people with impairments that may fluctuate, cause pain or fatigue.
One of the statistics I found particularly interesting is that 9% and 19% disclosed to their current employer and colleagues respectively for the first time during lockdown.
I have certainly told more people about my hearing impairment during lockdown to explain why right at the beginning of lockdown I was not answering emails after 6pm (I was asleep as I was so exhausted from the working day) and also to encourage them to use Microsoft Teams so that I could use auto generated subtitles (which has eased some of my fatigue).
The first report showed that 40% of those surveyed either never or only sometimes tell their employer or prospective employer they are disabled. So whether people are disclosing because they feel able to do so, or simply because they have needed to, I hope that more disclosures will lead to more consideration being given to accessibility for disabled lawyers as well as more open conversations.
This report is yet another great tool for having those conversations.
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