Disability Essentials

These resources cover the essential information organisations need to know about how to welcome disabled customers. This includes advice about how particular conditions or disabilities may affect a customer’s experience with your organisation, and what you can do to remove barriers for your disabled customers.

• Getting started: Quick tips
• Delivering inclusive and accessible customer service
• Communicating effectively
• Welcoming disabled customers: Introduction
• Talking to disabled customers on the phone
• Providing services to disabled customers in their home
• Arranging appointments with disabled customers
• Good customer service

BDF Members can also access guidance about welcoming customers with the following disabilities:

• Customers who are blind or who have sight loss
• Customers who are deaf or have hearing loss
• Customers with conditions affecting speech
• Customers with conditions affecting mobility

And many more – available on our Knowledge Hub.

These resources provide guidance about how to manage workplace adjustments. This guidance is intended to help employers understand the law and best practice.

• Tailored Adjustments Plans, Passports and Agreements

To help decide what is reasonable, Members can download our ‘Reasonable adjustment decision form‘.

• Managing adjustments – Scenarios (part 1)
• Managing adjustments – Scenarios (part 2)

BDF Members can find out more on how to manage the situations mentioned in these scenarios by contacting the Advice Service.

People management is an essential part of being an inclusive organisation and meeting employment law requirements. These resources will help people managers know how to be an inclusive manager and get the most out of their teams.

• Redundancy and Redeployment mini-Toolkit
• Managing performance scenarios
• Managing attendance scenarios
• Grievance, disciplinary and capability proceedings – Scenarios in the workplace

BDF Members can find out more about how to manage the situations mentioned in these scenarios, contact the Advice Service.

These resources provide facts and figures about specific disabilities and health conditions. This includes information about common workplace adjustments and advice for managers.

• Factsheet – Vertigo
• Factsheet – Sickle cell disease
• Factsheet – Schizophrenia
• Factsheet – Respiratory diseases
• Factsheet – Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Factsheet – Migraine
• Factsheet – Inflammatory bowel disease
• Factsheet – Gynaecological conditions
• Factsheet – Fibromyalgia
• Factsheet – Diabetes
• Factsheet – Cluttering
• Factsheet – Cerebral palsy

BDF Members can access addition condition-specific guidance on sight loss, hearing loss, musculoskeletal conditions, and many more on our Knowledge Hub.

These resources outline what organisations need to know to become accessible. This includes inclusive communication, inclusive design and built environments.

• Inclusive language: The dos and don’ts
• A user’s guide to video conferencing apps

BDF Members can access our ‘Premises accessibility checklist’ for assessing the accessibility of your physical premises on our Knowledge Hub.

Advice and guidance on what the law says about disability and your organisation. This includes the Equality Act, adjustments for employees and customers, and how to avoid discrimination.

• Legal Ease – Introduction
• The legal definition of ‘disability’
• Types of disability discrimination
• Reasonable adjustments and employment
• Reasonable adjustments and goods, services, facilities and property and providers of public functions
• Trade organisations and qualification bodies.

What your organisation needs to know about attracting and hiring disabled employees. This guidance includes advice about adjustments, language, asking about disability, and the law.

• Asking for information about disability during recruitment
• FAQs – Positive and proactive recruitment
• Attracting and hiring disabled candidates
• ‘Offer an interview’ schemes.