application process before they were offered the job, and in their current role, only 37.9% said their company’s HR department was fully informed about their disabilit. Even when participants did disclose, many spoke of not geting accommodations; only 40.2% of respondents agreed that their workplace has made all the adjustments they need to manage their disabilit at work.
Disabilit was also oſten seen as
a potential barrier for progressing in the industry; 64.7% of employ- ees said that their disabilit had negatively impacted their career, and 79.3% said that they were worried their disabilit would hinder their future progression. Participants mentioned missing out on opportunities to further their career because events, networking opportunities and training were not accessible to them. One industry employee, who is profoundly Deaf, also spoke about missing out on the “white noise” in the industry due to the inaccessibilit of industry communications in general, including the lack of captions and alt-text descriptions on social media posts.
93.4% of job seekers said they were worried companies wouldn’t employ them due to their disability
Some 34.6% of employees said they had faced discrimina- tion or prejudice related to their disabilit at work, with many noting issues with bullying, abuse and feeling punished for being unwell. One participant said they were “deeply traumatised” by the treatment they received, and others mentioned leaving their job because of it. There were also examples of employees being made to take holiday days for medical appointments,
TheBookseller.com
Workplace culture In general, many participants mentioned feeling unwelcome in the industry. Books containing problematic representations of disabled people by non-disabled authors are still being published, and disabilit oſten isn’t included in the industry’s discussions about diversit. The nature of the jobs in the industry were also cited as an issue too; as one participant noted, “A lot of publishing roles are completely inaccessible to disabled people due to unreason- able workload, unpaid overtime expectations, networking and social expectations outside of the official job description.” The London-centric nature of the UK publishing industry was also raised as a barrier for disabled people entering and staying in the industry; 84.4% of employees and 86.9% of job seekers agreed that the concentration of publishing in London makes it more difficult for disabled employees to work in the industry due the expense of living in the cit, long and exhausting commutes, and the reluctance to move away from their support network at home.
Suggestions for improvements Overall, there were calls to make sure basic accessibilit needs were met, though this was seen as the bare minimum, with a bigger issue being negative atitudes towards disabilit. One respondent’s suggestion to their employer was to “treat me like a human being”. Disabilit-specific hiring schemes were seen as a way to increase the number of disabled people in the industry, but until atitudes change, they
being made fun of by their managers, or being given less responsibilit than their non- disabled colleagues without being consulted, due to assumptions that they wouldn’t be able to handle the same amount of work. Where positive experiences were mentioned, employees were oſten worried about applying for other jobs or promotions in case they might get less support elsewhere.
are unlikely to make a difference long-term. As one participant wrote: “People leave when they are tolerated, and not welcomed.” Many participants felt that the problem is a lack of understand- ing about disabilities, and only 11.7% of employees felt their manager had received adequate training on how to support disa- bled people at work. There was therefore a call for compulsory disabilit training for every employee, especially for manag- ers and those working in HR. Finally, although there were calls for more regional offices and home working, the main suggestion to make the industry more accessible was an increase in flexible working, with 91.5% of employees agreeing that this would help them to manage their disabilit. Participants called for this flexibilit to go further than flexi-time and a few days each week working from home. As one interviewee said, rather than just thinking about how workplaces can be accessible or leting people work remotely, “it’s more about realising that someone is not going to be at a functioning capacit every single day that they’re expected to be”. Workplaces that put their employees’ individual needs and wellbeing first will therefore make the industry a more accessible and welcoming place—not just for disabled people, but for everyone.
Cat Mitchell is a lecturer and the programme leader of the Creative Writing and Publishing degree at the University of Derby. Before working in academia, she worked for five years in the publishing industry. The full Access Denied report can be read at
https://bit.ly/3lEq8At
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