‘This Ability’, to be held at Hull Truck Theatre on Friday 7 October 8 – 10am, will help local businesses to embrace disabilities. The event, to be hosted by 
Alan Johnson MP, will provide a unique opportunity to find out more about the support available when employing a disabled person.
The agenda for the event, which supports NHS England’s Five Year Forward View, will look to ask how NHS organisations can incorporate employment as a core aspect of the NHS role, whilst also giving the local NHS an opportunity to share some of the material developed to support employers in their recruitment processes, such as accessible job descriptions.
Sarah Smyth, NHS Hull CCG Director of Quality and Clinical Governance / Executive Nurse said:
“As a CCG we are committed to offering equality of opportunity and support to our employees into employment. We’re positive about employing people with both physical and learning disabilities as we are an equal opportunities employer.”
“We’re proud to support This Ability and we’re looking forward to working with organisations across the city to both promote employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and finding out how we can support people with disabilities into employment.”
The morning will include a number of speakers including Nichola Ivory-Chapman, the leading talent acquisition at Channel 4 who will outline their approach to embracing disability in the workplace.
Many employers are not aware that 18% of the working age population, equating to 7 million people have some form of disability or have a health condition in the UK. Many of these being highly qualified individuals, who can contribute to creating a workforce that reflects the diverse range of customers it serves and the community in which it is based.
To help employer’s understand the issues, the This Ability partnership, supported by the Big Lottery Fund, has put together this event, which will showcase projects and provide information on how each can be tailored to suit business needs.
Chantelle Snee, Development Officer, at Talent Match Humber, said;
“This Ability has been developed with employers in mind. Through working closely with young people with disabilities it is becoming increasingly apparent that the emphasis of support needs to be shifted towards the employer; this will help us to embrace disability and recognise ability.”
“We believe that businesses should be making the most of the talent that exists amongst disabled people across Hull and East Riding and look to become ‘Disability Confident’.”
Disability Confident is the government’s national campaign, which offers a range of resources designed to help employers make suitable adjustments to their workplace to enable employees to work within a safe and supportive working environment.
Book your place on This Ability for more information. Visit: this-ability.eventbrite.co.uk
