The University of Bath is committed to achieving an educational and working environment which provides equality of opportunity and freedom from unlawful discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, gender, marital status, disability, religious or political beliefs, age, sexual orientation or offending background.
Disability Confident is a government initiative that has been live since November 2016. It supports the commitment to help one million more disabled people to work within the next ten years. The aim is to enable employers to engage proactively with disabled people and to improve the recruitment and retention of disabled workers for their skills and talent.
We are an accredited Disability Confident Leader (Level 3) and we are committed to ]building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff](https://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/disability-support-for-members-of-staff/).
The scheme has three levels of commitment, each requiring additional commitment and evidence of action than the preceding level. The official accreditation of Level 3 ‘leader’, the most advanced level, was first achieved in 2020 and successfully renewed in May 2023.
What we did and why
All employers start at Level 1 and progress through the scheme at their own pace. The journey is as follows:
- Level 1: Disability Confident Committed
- Level 2: Disability Confident Employer
- Level 3: Disability Confident Leader
As a Disability Confident Leader, we are committed to disability equality and a positive approach towards disability, challenging negative attitudes and ensuring that all staff can achieve their potential.
What does this mean for me?
As part of our Disability Confident self-assessment, we identified actions that will further support inclusion of people with disabilities and ensure we have a co-ordinated approach addressing issues, such as:
- continued improvements in the accessibility of the University’s physical and digital infrastructure
- promoting better understanding of 'hidden' disabilities (e.g. neurodiversity, hearing and visual impairments)
- promoting good practices (e.g. the aFLAME Disability Network for Staff and PGR students, Neurodiversity booklet)
- ensuring consistency of availability of support services across the University
External support
As a Disability Confident Leader the University mentors and supports other organisations on their disability journey. If you are interested in support please contact diversity@bath.ac.uk.
The University Co Chairs a Disability Confident Network for the South West. If you are interested in joining please email diversity@bath.ac.uk and we’ll add you to the mailing list.