Workers with disabilities facing inaccessibility, lack of support in workplaces
10.07.2024
Andre Felix
Ibrahim, who works in Belgium, often must take his personal laptop to work as his organisation doesn’t have the assistive technology necessary to do his job. Steven, a wheelchair user from the Netherlands, was told to be grateful for the accommodations he got.
These are just some of the problems revealed in the report “Digital Skills, Accommodation and Technological Assistance for Employment” released today, which shows the pervasive problems still facing employees with disabilities across the EU and the UK– from inaccessible hiring processes and lack of accommodation through to lack of access to assistive technology and hostile workplace cultures.
The report, produced by the European Disability Forum and funded by Google.org, explores the causes of low employment of persons with disabilities. A report launched in 2023 by the European Disability Forum showed that only 51% of persons with disabilities are employed compared to 75% of persons without disabilities.
Other main findings include:
- Only 1 in 4 employers have developed accessible recruitment processes, an essential step in hiring people with disabilities.
- 81% of employers have no policy in [...]