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Ability/Disability

Ability in a cognitive, physiological, psychological or physical function lies along a continuum. If we were to measure and chart people’s abilities across the range of functions most would show a ‘wavy’ profile with higher ability in some areas than in others. However, the level of ability does not necessarily remain a constant, it can change in positive and negative ways. For example, the improvement or acquisition of new skills, environmental factors, illness, accident and drug use (both prescribed and recreational) can all have an impact on abilities.

Consequently, we all have our own unique abilities profile and an awareness of how this can change over time, from day-to-day and over longer periods. For example, our sight, hearing and ability to walk can be temporarily affected by alcohol or drugs; our ability to hold a conversation can be affected by loud background noise. A broken leg, relationship problems, bereavement and/or high work demands are all factors that can temporarily affect our level of effectiveness in many of our daily functions.

Like non-disabled people, each individual disabled person has their own profile of abilities which will affect the ways in which they approach a task and acquire work-related skills. The concept of ‘impairment’ is a useful one for considering the ways in which an individual’s abilities profile may be affected by a disability or medical condition.  Hence terms such as visually impaired, hearing impaired, mobility impaired, and so on indicate an area of impairment, but not necessarily a complete loss of function in those areas. Furthermore, disabilities such as dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorders, mental health difficulties and unseen disabilities create different profiles of ability; each disabled person experiences their condition or impairment  in  their own unique way which can change from day to day or over longer periods of time.
 
In order to understand the abilities profile of a disabled individual,  we have to consider how they will manage their disability or medical condition within a variety of contexts such as at interview, in work placement, employment and/or training.  It is important to remember that it may be necessary to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable their participation in such situations - and even more important to consult with the individual about what their requirements might be and what adjustments would work best for them.

The following abilities can affect effective achievement/demonstration of the employability skills included on this website.

Disability Caveat

If you have entered the UseMyAbility resource as a result of a desire to gain a better understanding of the likely impact of a disability upon an applicant for training, placement or employment, or to generally better inform yourself on a specific disability, the following are some key points to remember:

Definitions and descriptions of disability are simply pointers to a range of likely consequences of a disability. The experience and characteristics of different impairments/conditions are highly variable between individuals.

It never pays to generalise about disability, disabled stereotypes are prevalent in society and easy to be ensnared by. Individuals with disabilities are just that, individuals who should be understood as individuals and not as categories. For this reason it is really important that you never make assumptions about what a person can or cannot do.

Disabled people are often the best source of information; they are the experts in what constitutes the best means of ensuring their participation. Though someone may have significant difficulties, they may also have devised sophisticated means of compensating for these, so talk to the person concerned and make judgments only on an individual basis.

The Disability Discrimination Act  (DDA) 1995 (2005, amended) Part 2, which governs education, employment and occupation, promotes duties for good practice and recruitment and is predicated upon a Social Model of disability. The DDA has shifted the focus away from the idea that there is something ‘wrong’ with the disabled individual, known as the Medical Model, and re-focused on what is wrong with attitudes, policies and practice and how best to realign these to remove disabling barriers and promote the participation of disabled people.

The Act places a duty on employers not to discriminate against disabled people but to be anticipatory in making ‘reasonable adjustments’ in recruitment and employment. The duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ governs such things as the advertising of job vacancies, recruitment, interviewing, providing work placements, employment, staff training, etc. To not make ‘reasonable adjustments’ is form of discrimination under the Act.

The DDA does not override other legislation such as the Health and Safety Act, but sits alongside it to help make sure that both types of legislation can be adhered to. Concerns regarding health and safety at work cannot be used spuriously to override an employer’s duty not to discriminate against disabled people.

Individual risk assessment should be carried out with a view to include rather than exclude a disabled person from an employment opportunity and these should be regularly reviewed.


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University of Worcester

Dr Val Chapman (NTF)
Principal Investigator
Director, Centre for Inclusive Learning Support
Email: v.chapman@worc.ac.uk		 University of Plymouth

Judith Waterfield (NTF)
Head of Disability ASSIST Services
Email: j.waterfield@plymouth.ac.uk
University of Gloucester

Dr Phil Gravestock (NTF)
Head of Learning Enhancement and Technology Support
Email: pgravestock@glos.ac.uk