Evenbreak surveyed over 3,000 disabled people with the market research company, YouGov.
The social enterprise, which is run by and for disabled people, asked people what is their biggest barrier to work, when do they mention their disability and their views on employers.
23% felt that mentioning their disability would put them at a disadvantage, 24% said a lack of self-confidence and 18% said they did not face any barriers to work at all.
23% also said they would disclose on application, whereas 22% said they would not mention their disability and 12% would disclose at the interview stage.
When it came to perceptions of employers, 30% said employers only hire disabled people if they need to fill a quota, whereas 27% said employers are keen to employ the right person for the job, regardless if the candidate had a disability or not.
Jane Hatton, CEO of Evenbreak, said: “It’s clear that many disabled people have to think carefully about when, or if, to mention their disability to potential employers. This is a real dilemma – if they mention it they risk being discriminated against, and if they don’t, they can’t ask for any adjustments they might need and may be at a disadvantage. This is a stress not encountered by the non-disabled candidates they may be competing against for jobs.
It's disappointing to see that the perception of 30% of respondents is that companies only employ disabled people to fill a quota or tick a box – not because they see the value and skills that disabled candidates bring with them.”
There are 14.1m disabled people in the UK and 52% are employed. The survey was designed to find out the views of disabled people on employment.
More analysis and results from the survey including the impact of the cost of living and understanding of the social model of disability can be found on the Evenbreak blog.
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