Disability should not be treated as a diversity afterthought

I don’t often get emotional attending a work event but it was hard not to seeing guests at a Law Society Lawyers with Disabilities Division networking event greet each other. It was the first time the LDD had held an event in person since December 2019.

The annual event was being held in the summer rather than December ‘as we are still unsure of how things will be regarding Covid later in the year, in case there is another winter wave,’ LDD chair Jane Burton told guests. ‘So many people have been adversely affected by Covid, and have had to stay at home, shielding, including members of the LDD committee.’

The purpose of the event, held at Freshfields’ new office near Liverpool Street in London, was to enable guests to network. Suggesting a good conversation starter for the networking, Burton asked guests to think of one word to describe how they felt attending the event, and then reflect how they felt at the end of the evening and what word they would use to describe how they felt.

My word at the start of the evening? Privileged. Privileged to have a job that enabled me to attend such an important and special evening. My word to describe how I felt at the end of the evening? Can we make it three? Moved, grateful and motivated.

Moved. Moved hearing former Law Society president Dame Fiona Woolf talk about her personal journey with disability, being on a ‘trajectory’ and wanting to listen and learn from others. For instance, when she gets on the tube, a handful of people stand up and offer her a seat, but few people ask what she actually needs (‘I need to learn how to put them at their ease so that I can have a conversation with them that says "it would be hugely helpful if you were to take my hand on the left side".).

Moved after hearing a speaker, who is visually impaired, tell the event that being open and honest about his disability and concerns from the outset helped both him and his employer. He was worried he would take longer than others to review documents. He and his firm trialled software until they found the best one that worked for him. It worked so well, ‘I’m actually now quicker at reviewing large documents than my supervisor and members of the team’. Other legal assistants adopted a similar approach to reviewing documents, which has helped them to become more efficient.

Grateful. Grateful to have been given the opportunity to hear people’s personal journeys with disabilities and the challenges they have had to overcome (and, in some cases, are still overcoming).

One speaker’s advice to law firms was not to treat the disability element of diversity and inclusion as an afterthought. ‘We’re moving forward tremendously but disability is still slightly overlooked, it’s still a slightly poor relation.’ His words, along with those of everyone I spoke to that evening, prompted me to reassess how I approach the issue of diversity and inclusion in my reporting. I often focus on gender, ethnicity and professional background.

Motivated. Motivated to do better.