Access still denied to disabled workers

Disability campaigners say their cause is being drowned out by a cacophony of more popular diversity issues like race and gender. Matt Henkes investigates whether this is the case and how they can make themselves heard within organisations.

Diversity is in danger of becoming such an ominous and unwieldy term that some facets may be in jeopardy of slipping below the radar. And with disability arguably the most complicated and least publicised of such issues, is it surprising lobbyists complain it is losing out to more straightforward targets like race and gender?

Around 7 million people of working age in the UK have some kind of disability – that's almost one in five, though only half of these are in work. In 2006, the Office of National Statistics reported that up to 1.2m disabled people were available and wanting to work. So why aren't they?