Last week Philip Hammond effectively blamed the UK's productivity problem on disabled workers, which is not only offensive but also incorrect.
Philip Hammond’s remarks last week regarding disabled workers and their productivity have been met with equal measures of anger and derision, and rightly so.
The Chancellor said in the Treasury select committee last week:
“It is almost certainly the case that increasing participation in the workforce, including far higher levels of participation by marginal groups… for example of disabled people… may have had an impact on overall productivity measurements.”
In making these comments, Hammond effectively blamed the UK’s poor productivity on disabled workers. This is at best misjudged, and at worst outright deceptive, given he cited no studies or statistics to back up his ill-formed thoughts.
What has been missed in the reaction, however, is that the Tory government is not alone in fundamentally misunderstanding what disabled people require to be able to work.
Yes, the Tories make life worse; they cut benefits such as PIP and the Independent Living Fund, effectively trapping disabled people in their existing circumstances. But this is not just a Tory problem; it’s a societal one.
The latest initiative to help disabled people into work is, frankly, laughable. The measures are hopeless; more of the same, the same that has already been proven to be fundamentally flawed.
Employers simply don’t understand disability, especially variable conditions. They see the disability, not the person. Legislation can combat some of this, but the general fear of disability is the undercurrent that always wins out.
Many people simply do not know how to talk to someone in a wheelchair, or how to address issues caused by mental health conditions.
Employers hear reference to pain conditions or depression and assume the worker will be unstable and unreliable. They foresee huge amounts of money having to be spent on sick pay.
What they, and the government, fail to realise is that it is the workplace, not the work, that is incompatible with disabled lives.
Disabled people are capable of working and – contrary to the Chancellor’s opinion – they are capable of working hard. I know this from experience; I have a serious spinal condition, but I frequently work more than 60 hours a week.
However, the new measures introduced by the government would be no help to me whatsoever– and nor will they help others in a similar situation.
What disabled people truly need is a revolution in the way we approach work in this country.
The main issue for disabled workers is something able-bodied people take for granted; the ability to get out of bed, and out of the door, on a regular basis.
Almost every disability has good days and bad days, but conventional work requires you to guarantee five good days in a row, week in and week out. This is impossible to do, and thus the number of disabled people in employment has largely flatlined.
To combat this, what disabled workers truly need are reliable jobs that they can do from home, ideally on a flexible basis.
At present, the availability of legitimate work-from-home jobs is appallingly low. As a writer, I have more opportunities than most, but not every disabled person can work in the creative fields that have traditionally been more accepting of home-working.
So many jobs could now be done from home: data admin, customer service, administration, even benefit claims processing.
Meetings can be held over Skype, issues can be thrashed out on Google Hangouts; physical attendance should not be the base requirement of work in the 21st century.
Rather than wasting time and money on initiatives that will have, at best, minimal success, would it not make more sense to open the conversation? Disabled people are so often forced to conform to an able-bodied world, but modern technology suggests a possibility that, for once, the world could change to accommodate them.
AJ Kelly a Midlands-based freelance writer, with a particular interest in disability and chronic illness.
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One Response to “The Chancellor thinks disabled workers aren’t productive. Here’s why he’s wrong”
Dave Roberts
He said nothing of the sort. This article is a joke.