What would happen if employees with disabilities and long-term conditions expected great experiences at work?’

We are often worried that by sharing, others may perceive of us differently or treat us differently. Or that it will have an adverse impact on our career.

We also know that it can get easier to share information over time especially when we know it can make it easier for us to be productive, effective and authentic at work.

That’s why PurpleSpace is on a mission to develop the inner confidence of every disabled employee so that we all feel able to share aspects of our story, and to request the adjustments or accommodations we need to thrive.

And it's why we’ve designed a new course (sponsored by Novartis and in association with Tesco) to support employees with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health conditions and neurodivergence to build their inner confidence.

It’s not about fixing people with disabilities. Or teaching disabled people to pretend to be ‘normal’.

We know that most of the barriers we experience are external, whether it’s inaccessible built and digital environments, inadequate policy and process or other people’s attitudes and low expectations.

They’re the barriers that the global PurpleSpace community of disability ERG/Network leaders are working with their communities and their companies to identify and dismantle.

Even in the most enlightened organisations though, progress can be slow and the impact isn’t always felt by individuals quickly or consistently. This means there is benefit in disabled employees having the skill to advocate for themselves with confidence and without apology.
 
This month we invite you to consider:

• Where are you in your own personal inner confidence journey?

• How can your disability ERG/Network engage and equip your community of employees with disabilities to develop confidence at scale?


Peer Leadership Roundtables

One of the most valuable aspects of PurpleSpace membership is the opportunity to build your leadership capacity via quality conversation with other disability ERG/Network leaders.

Each month we convene groups of disability ERG/Network leaders to stimulate discussion on the monthly leadership lesson.
Connect with your peers during these interactive one-hour sessions for disability ERG/Network leaders. These sessions are a great way to share good practice and challenges, swap ideas and build your ERG/Network leadership capacity.

In January, we have two Peer Leadership Roundtables to choose from to explore an ERG/Network leader role in developing the confidence of their disabled colleagues.

• 13 January 10:00 – 11:00 GMT
• 21 January 16:00 –17:00 GMT