I like this idea so would welcome copies of the letters and Q&A please.

 

BTW, I forgot to mention that we also revised our Equality Monitoring Form (which go out in the application form to potential employees) and Annual Audit form (which goes out to current staff) to include a clear definition of a disability and the benefits of disclosing to MMU.  The latter helps to capture those staff who acquire a disability after becoming a member of staff.  I’ve attached a copy of the former.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

Hi Tammy

 

The University of Brighton’s staff disclosure rate is 7.8%, which last time I checked was amongst the highest of all HEIs and particularly of the large, non- specialist institutions. 

 

We achieved this primarily by writing out individually to all members of staff a few years ago to ask them to update their info.  The letters and monitoring forms we sent were personally addressed and contained info about why we monitored disability, what we use the info for and the support available to disabled staff.   Where staff had already disclosed a disability we sent out slightly different letters asking them to check that the info we held was correct.   We also provided a Q&A doc on our E&D website and clear contact details for people with any queries.  I would be happy to share the letters and Q&A with you if that would be useful. 

 

Before we did this exercise we had a disclosure rate of 5.4%, which was already above average for HEIs at the time.  Whilst I can’t say for certain, I suspect that our self-disclosure policy (ie. encouraging staff to disclose if they consider themselves to have a disability rather than just those who clearly meet the legal definition) has contributed to our comparatively high disclosure rate, and I also think that our organisational culture may have contributed.  For example, our most recent staff survey showed that 96% of respondents felt that the university respects people from different groups equally. 

 

Happy to discuss further.

 

Best wishes

 

Helen

 

 

 

Does anyone have a particularly good Disability Disclosure rate for an HEI?  If so, how do you think you achieved it?

 

I know that’s an enormous question but I’m looking for practical answers that you think made a difference at your institution.

 

Many thanks

 

PS I posted recently about experiences of having a Central Fund for Reasonable Adjustments for staff and it seems that most HEIs do not have one  but there was some guidance which I will have to check can be shared.  I still have the emails of all those who requested sharing.

 

Thanks

 

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