Podcast: Disability Today

About Disability Today podcast

This podcast discusses the issues that affect us now, and will be part of our reality tomorrow.

All too often, disabled people are overlooked and forgotten when considering what the future holds, and the challenges the world faces today. Leading experts join Business Disability Forum CEO Diane Lightfoot to discuss how disabled people and business are or will be affected.

Disability Today explores the challenges, and the solutions to creating a more inclusive world. Each episode will be accompanied by a discussion paper that delves more deeply into the themes discussed.

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Episode 3 – Cost of living

In the third episode of the podcast, our CEO Diane Lightfoot explores the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on disabled people, considering how it has interacted with the extra costs of being disabled.

The discussion covers the ‘disability price tag’, the impact of rising costs of essential goods and services, and why disabled people may be more affected than most. The guests debate how the situation impacts disabled people and what meaningful action can be taken to mitigate the toll that financial insecurity can take. 

Our guests for this episode are:

• Mark Hodgkinson, Chief Executive of Scope,
• Angela Matthews, Head of Policy and Research at Business Disability Forum.

This episode is accompanied by a discussion paper that delves more deeply into the topics discussed, and can be accessed in the links below.

The Disability Price Tag 2024 can be accessed here: https://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/disability-price-tag

Read the transcript for episode 3 (Word).

Episode 2 – Disability inclusion in business: is it just purple washing?

In the second episode of the podcast, our CEO Diane Lightfoot considers what is meant by the term ‘purple washing’ and whether businesses are using such tokenism around disability inclusion to deflect attention from poor practice.

The discussion covers purple washing and purple hushing, why they matter, plus advice on how to avoid them in your organisation. The guests debate controversial questions, such as: does it matter if businesses are making themselves look better, if they are achieving positive change? Should businesses wait until they are ‘perfect’ to share good news? How do we encourage businesses to take meaningful actions on disability inclusion?

Our guests for this episode are:

• Peter Torres Fremlin, disability consultant and author of the Disability Debrief,
• Birgit Neu, Senior DEI Professional and former Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at HSBC.

This episode is accompanied by a discussion paper that delves more deeply into the topics discussed, and can be accessed in the links below.

Read the transcript for episode 2 (Word).

Episode 1 AI: Friend or foe?

In the first episode of the podcast, Diane discusses whether disabled people risk being further excluded from jobs by the increasing use of AI, or if new technology always creates new opportunities. Conversation also covers the opportunities and threats that AI presents for disabled people, offering live examples and the steps that need to be taken to ensure that we, as a global society develop AI for good.

Guests are:

• Christopher Patnoe, Head of EMEA Accessibility and Disability Inclusion at Google

• Claire Cookson, CEO of Pathways Education Ltd.

This episode is accompanied by a discussion paper that delves more deeply into the topics discussed, and can be accessed in the links below.