PHIL FRIEND

In 1946, the British government decided which jobs were suitable for disabled people. Lift attendant. Car park attendant. That was broadly it. Under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944, these roles were formally designated — reserved exclusively for registered disabled workers. It was actually an offence to give the job to someone without a disability without a special permit. By the 1960s, almost every lift attendant and car park attendant in Britain carried the green

A tech writer spent a year using AI for everything and called it a revelation. I'd call it a Tuesday. Here's why disabled people have been doing this for decades — and what that says about the world we live in. Joanna Stern spent a year using AI to do almost everything. She's a technology writer. Her new book, I Am Not a Robot, is out this week. She appeared on NPR's Fresh Air to talk about it — the year she used AI to read her medical results, draft her messages, and process

AI-generated image Let's start with something most of us can agree on. Getting out of the house in the morning is a logistical challenge. Kids refusing to eat breakfast. School bags that vanished overnight. The dog who decides today is the day to throw up its breakfast. Life is complicated before 9 am. I know this. I'm a wheelchair user. I'm also a husband, a father and a grandfather. My morning complexity is the same as yours — plus a bit extra. This week, the extra arrived

I hadn’t been to NAIDEX for a long time. Years, in fact. So when I wheeled into the NEC in Birmingham last week, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. What I found was extraordinary. And not just for the reasons you might think. Standing or sitting room only I was there to speak. Three of us on a stage — me, Simon Minty, and Abbie Brown — on the subject of employment. The stage was open to the exhibition floor. There were stands all around us, people rolling by, the general hub

I watched the International Women's Day speeches in the House of Lords recently. Baroness Jane Campbell wasn't in the chamber. She joined via Zoom, supported by her personal assistant. It was a small but telling moment. A great demonstration of what happens when barriers are removed, talent can flourish. Jane used her speech to reflect on a "first break" she received decades ago. That single decision started a career that changed disability rights in this country. It's a r

Disabled Entrepreneur AI is threatening the jobs that disabled people depend on most. But their lifetime of navigating a world not built for them might be exactly the skill set the rest of us now need. Nearly a million young people in the UK are currently not in work, education or training. The highest figure in a decade, and still rising. At the same time, entry-level job postings are running 45% below their five-year average. Graduate roles in banking and finance have falle