Widen our representation 

Currently*, 40% of our staff are from the Global Majority and 34% identify as LGBTQIA+. We aim to improve representation of these groups across our organisation, through a range of measures. These include more targeted advertising of roles within the relevant communities and consideration of what obstacles they may be facing in the recruitment process. 

Most of our staff have lived experience of disability, but we aim to expand the range of impairments and conditions represented by taking steps such as advertising roles in publications for people with specific impairments or conditions. We also state in our vacancies that we particularly welcome applications from members of the global majority. 

*Data correct as at June 2025, based on our anonymised annual staff demographics survey

Improve induction

We continually assess our onboarding process and identify areas for improvement. Currently, one of these is to include further training on the Social Model of Disability, so everyone who joins us understands why this approach is so integral to our work.  

We have many practices in place for all staff informed on our work, such as weekly meetings and regular email bulletins, but another area we want to develop further is skill-sharing. Each member of our team is highly skilled and experienced in their field and it would be of great benefit to the organisation, and ultimately our clients, if we have systems in place for sharing more of these.  

Expand campaigns

Our campaign to clarify the recruitment advice wording on reserving roles for Disabled people (see Our Services) received much media and public interest, highlighting the importance of this work on both a local and national scale. As our impact continues to grow, we hope to expand these opportunities to campaign for a more diverse and inclusive society; one that Disabled people can contribute to equally.  

Raise awareness

DDPOs 

Through our day-to-day work we have found that not everyone is clear about who we are and what we do, for example, many people are not aware of the term DDPO (D/deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation) and what that means in practice.  

Social Model of Disability

The language of the Social Model of Disability is also unfamiliar to many people; both in Disabled and non-disabled communities and so it is crucial that we raise awareness both of this and why we use it. One aspect of this we are looking into relates to our training practises and each member of our team might spread the word in their work. 

Alliances

As we deliver a wide variety of services, sometimes there can be confusion as to who we represent e.g., misconceptions that we only deliver services for Disabled people, or that we are part of a council when we are an independent charity who works as part of alliances.  

Consequently, it is one of our aspirations to address how best to clarify our position and deliver messaging which raises awareness of who we are and what we do. We have expanded our communications team recently and this is very much at the forefront of their goals.