Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell

The lack of access to employment opportunities and continued underrepresentation of disabled people in the workforce is holding us all back.

The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 was the first piece of legislation in the UK aimed at protecting disabled people against various forms of discrimination, including in the workplace. But more than 25 years later, this regulation has been nowhere near effective enough: the latest report from the Office for National Statistics found that the disability employment rate was 52.7% in Q2 2021, compared to 81.0% for non-disabled people - a grossly unacceptable inequality gap.