PHIL FRIEND

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

It's been a grim week for disability news. Access to Work is in crisis. One disability organisation found that support hours for their clients dropped by 82% in three years. Inaccessible railway stations are locking millions of people out of travel, employment, and healthcare. Benefits reform is creating real fear for hundreds of thousands of families. If you've been following the headlines, you could be forgiven for feeling like disability is under attack. But step back for

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

New figures this week show that one in eleven disabled people is now unemployed. That's the highest rate in six years. And disabled people are losing jobs at nearly ten times the rate of non-disabled people. The government is concerned. Charities are alarmed. Reports are being written. But here's the thing. We're not short of explanations. We've known for decades that disabled people face discrimination at the very first hurdle — the job application. Cardiff University rese

We keep saying we want more disabled people in work. So why are we making the support they rely on harder to use? The government is clear about its ambition: more disabled people in employment, fewer people stuck on benefits, and a labour market that makes better use of talent that is currently overlooked. It’s an aim many of us would support without hesitation. But ambition only matters if the systems underneath it actually deliver — particularly for employers who are expect