Disabled people's experiences in the workplace environment in England

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this paper is to report on a study undertaken into disabled people's experience of the built environment when attempting to access and stay in employment. Design/methodology/approach Narratives were collected using semi‐structured interviews with 38 disabled people, all of whom had experience of paid and unpaid work. Findings Analysis of the interview narratives shows that disabled people experience a range of barriers and enablers in the built environment both to gaining employment and to staying in employment, and an accessible environment contributes to a successful employment experience. Research limitations/implications This is a small exploratory study of disabled people's experience of the workplace built environment. Future research could focus in more detail on whether specific design features reduce the requirement for reasonable adjustments. Practical implications The implications are that disabled people are experiencing discrimination when working environments present barriers and reasonable adjustments, as required by the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and 2005, are not made. Originality/value This is exploratory research and provides an insight into the experience of disabled people of the physical workplace environment, presenting examples of good and poor practice.