Employment

The Disability Symbol

The Disability symbol shows that an employer is positive about employing disabled people. You will often find it displayed when a job is being advertised and means that people with disabilities will get an interview if they meet that organisation's minimum criteria.

What does the symbol mean?

Before an employer can display the symbol they will have made five commitments:

To interview all applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy. Ask the employer what these criteria are when applying for a vacancy. If you already work for an employer using the symbol the guaranteed interview commitment applies to internal vacancies.
To ensure there is a procedure to discuss what can be done to ensure disabled employees develop and use their abilities.
To make every effort to ensure that employees stay in employment in the event that they become disabled.
To ensure all employees develop disability awareness
To review the five commitments annually, including what has been achieved to make improvements and to let employees and the Employment Service know about future plans.

Employers who use the Disability Symbol are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the same way as other employers are. This means that your rights as a disabled person under the Act are not affected. A list of employers who are symbol users is available from Disability Employment Advisors.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) gives disabled people rights in areas such as employment and access to goods and services. It is unlawful under the act for employers to treat a disabled person less favourably than anyone else because of their disability unless there is good cause.

More information on the DDA is available from the Disability Rights Commission web site.