First Minister to address Summit on disability employment gap

By Rhona Willder | Events, News | Comments are Closed | 17 January, 2018 | 0

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, will be the keynote speaker at a major Disabled People’s Summit today looking at how to cut the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people.

Since the beginning of the recession in 2008 the proportion of Scottish working age disabled people in employment has fallen from 48.9% to 42.8%. In comparison the employment rate of non-disabled people has recovered to 80.2%.

Today’s Summit – Situations Vacant: employer-ability and disabled people’s right to work – is the 3^rd Annual Disabled People’s Summit organised by Inclusion Scotland. It will focus on what more must be done to support employers to be good and proper employers of disabled people so that barriers to employment can be dismantled and the employment gap reduced.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Dr Sally Witcher, Chief Executive of Inclusion Scotland, said:

“We are delighted that the First Minister is attending the Summit. It is clear that her visible support to women’s and LGBTQI people’s human rights has done much to draw attention to their importance and to promote action.

“Her involvement in this Summit for the first time sends a clear message to disabled people, employers across all sectors and wider society that disabled people’s right to work in accessible and inclusive workplaces matters and that things must change to make this right a reality for many.”

The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, said

“This government is committed to building an inclusive economy where everyone in Scotland has the opportunity to find fulfilling jobs suitable to their skills and disabled people can access the additional support they need to enter the workplace. Employers are vitally important in improving the lives of disabled people and helping to remove the barriers many face. We know there is more to do and we are working towards the ambition of halving the disability employment gap in Scotland.”

Have you got a story to tell? Check out our #myworkstory campaign here and add your story. There is a BSL video on youtube here too.