#PurpleTalk – stimulating fresh conversations about disability and business by Vanessa Hardy, Digital Communications Manager, PurpleSpace

Well, in 2014 PurpleSpace CEO, Kate Nash OBE interviewed over 2,500 disabled employees for her publication ‘Secrets & Big News’. The research showed that employees are very cautious about their association with the word ‘disability’. Nearly two-thirds of participants believe that either some people will always resist the label or think the association with the word is a big personal step.

In the same year the government launched its Disability Confident campaign. They started to talk about the power of the purple pound; a bit like the use of the term ‘grey pound’ to denote the spending power of older consumers or the term ‘pink pound’ to denote the spending power of people from the LGBT community.  We also noticed a number of disability organisations using purple in their branding: Scope, Remploy, Disability Rights UK and most recently with the organisation Purple.

When we launched PurpleSpace, we deliberately chose a name that would contribute to building the purple symbolism increasingly associated with the disability movement. 

By helping to get the term ‘Purple’ out there, we are providing disabled employees and allies with a fresh way to share their powerful stories of disability so that their employers just “get it” and want to invest in their talent, their career and their progression. 

The benefits of sharing your own stories of difference in workplace exchanges can be life-changing both for you and your employer. It can help you as a disabled employee to build your personal brand as a confident, capable and high-performing individual. And for those business leaders willing to listen it can demonstrate that your business is serious about the meaningful inclusion of disabled people. 

We know that feeling confident about sharing your story takes time and practice and it might not be for everyone. But if you are interested in joining a conversation about the business and personal benefits of a disability confident workforce, then please think about joining our #PurpleTalk.

3 December marks International Day of Disabled People which this year also celebrates 10 years of 'Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities'and we think that sharing success stories about disabled people in business contributes to the celebrations.

  

We're encouraging disabled employees, businesses and allies to share positive stories about disability and work on social media using #PurpleTalk. It can be as simple as a Tweet “I’m Vanessa, I’ve worked in digital communications and inclusion for over 20 years and I manage an ongoing mental health condition’. Or you can signpost to stories for disabled employees on your website.

Join the #PurpleTalk

Over the next three weeks have a read of the stories we are sharing from disabled employees at #PurpleTalk partners: Fujitsu, KPMG and Shaw Trust and if you want to join in please use #PurpleTalk when you share your stories on social media.

Going forward we want other disabled people and allies to be inspired to share their stories about disability confidence at work and we are offering two free resources PurpleStories and '#VirtuallyPurple' to help disabled employees to build new skills in storytelling and social media.

You can download VirtuallyPurple here.

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