Lloyds Banking Group Access Disability Network

Lloyds Banking Group relaunched their Access Disability Network on 4 June 2010 with a day of inspirational presentations, practical advice and networking opportunities.

The event, which had the themes of Access your potential and Succeeding together, marked a new direction for the network, which is now open to non-disabled colleagues. The launch was the start of an 18-month plan for supporting disabled people's career development.

Phil Friend OBE, an EFD associate, talked about the history of the disability movement, and how it has changed attitudes from old-fashioned, charity stereotypes. He discussed how disability activists had lobbied for a ‘nothing about us without us' approach during the 1970s and ‘80s.

Bringing the discussion to the present day, Phil looked at how there has been a move from disability awareness and fair treatment, to EFD's disability confident approach.

Among the advice he gave, Phil stressed that disabled employees cannot let managers second-guess what is needed. Instead, a partnership between the individual and their manager or employer is vital.

The next speaker was Mark Fisher, Group Operations Director and Executive Sponsor for Disability at Lloyds, who is also a member of EFD's President's Group.

He stressed the need to look at the long-term case for disability confidence. Mark gave a frank and direct account of why he does not want disability to be seen as a separate issue. He said that disability is an aspect of business, not a cottage industry. It should be about "addressing the performance and achievements of disabled people."

Mark explained that he and his team are working to reduce the waiting time for colleagues who need reasonable adjustments, and a pilot is running with central funding for adjustments.

Lloyds Banking Group is also introducing a management driving licence, which will cover the practicalities of management for first-time managers. This licence will cover reasonable adjustments, because line managers need to know about them and have the scope to review them.

The final speaker was Frank Gardner, the BBC's security correspondent who was shot by an Al Qaeda gunman in 2004, and who now uses a wheelchair.

He talked about his recovery, and how he had found his return to work. Getting written confirmation, on BBC headed paper, that his job was safe was very important to his recovery.

His advice to disabled employees was to minimise their employer's perception of disability. He thought that plenty of people were happy to promote what they are not capable of, but it was good to ‘wear' a disability lightly if possible. Talking about limitations or weaknesses is not very attractive to employers, he said, but it was understandable that people would do so.

He advised employers to make the maximum use of their disabled employees, who should not be kept or promoted just because of their disability.