The Latest Bulletin

Britain’s equality watchdog has criticised British airlines and British Airways (BA) in particular – for their treatment of disabled customers as legal action is taken by an actor over alleged damage to her wheelchair. Chris Holmes, the disability commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a highly successful Paralympic athlete, said carriers should cover the full cost of damage they cause to wheelchairs and mobility devices. Lord Holmes, who represented Great Britain for 17 years at swimming and won nine gold medals, specifically mentioned the case of disabled actor Athena Stevens. Stevens is taking legal action against BA and London City airport over damage she says happened when she was trying to make a working trip to Glasgow in…

It has been a hectic few weeks for our Health and Wellbeing team as this newsletter shows. With participants from across the UK and from as far away as Poland, Ukraine, Spain and the USA we have been driving our mission to improve the opportunity for those who are denied the benefits of “good work” because our systems fail to support them to remain in, or re-enter, the workplace when they also have to contend with challenging health conditions. In particular, we have identified the weak links in the UK’s current work programmes and made recommendations for improvements and we have begun to build a good practice and evidence-based toolkit through expert engagement from across Europe through our Fit for…

Just a third of employers (34%) have a formal, written policy or an informal, verbal policy in place to support working carers in their workplace, according to a new survey published today. With estimates suggesting that 3 in 5 people will end up caring for someone at some point in their lives1, employers are being urged to put mechanisms in place to empower and support working carers, before they lose out on key talent. This is according to new CIPD/Westfield Health research which finds that almost two-fifths (38%) of employers do not have any policies in place to support working carers, or plans to develop one. The report also finds that just 13% of organisations offer line manager training to…

The sixth edition of this bestselling textbook has now been published. And it won’t be long before Neil’s The Professional Social Worker will be published – just a few weeks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anti-Discriminatory-Practice-Practical-Social-Work/dp/1137586656/ref=dp_ob_title_bk https://astore.amazon.co.uk/neilthomp-21?_encoding=UTF8&node=12

Many years ago, a trusted mentor said to me: ‘Neil, you have a lot of strengths, and you keep playing to them. How will you develop new strengths if you are constantly focusing on what you are already good at?’.  He went on to explain that what I was doing was very common, but it was also a very common way of standing in the way of my own development. What he encouraged me to do was to be clear about what areas I was not so strong in and look at how I could improve in those areas. From this discussion emerged the idea of turning weaknesses into strengths. It is easy to feel embarrassed about what we are…

"I bought the diet book, but ate my usual foods." "I filled the prescription, but didn't take the meds." "I took the course... well, I watched the videos... but I didn't do the exercises in writing." Merely looking at something almost never causes change. Tourism is fun, but rarely transformative. If it was easy, you would have already achieved the change you seek. Change comes from new habits, from acting as if, from experiencing the inevitable discomfort of becoming. Click here to read more

Cross-country skier Janine Shepherd hoped for an Olympic medal — until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. She shares a powerful story about the human potential for recovery. Her message: you are not your body, and giving up old dreams can allow new ones to soar. Click here to read more

There has been significant expansion of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) in the last two decades, driven to some degree by the work-life balance agenda. However, in practice work-life balance and flexible working continue to be viewed as a ‘women’s issue’, as women more often reduce hours or work part-time. But recent research conducted by my own department suggests that women working flexibly are not experiencing the potential wellbeing benefits when compared to men. Flexible working arrangements include part-time, flexi-time, job share and homeworking. Part-time accounts for approximately 40 percent of female employment and is the most common FWA used by women. Term-time working is also used predominantly by women, reflecting the typical gender roles regarding caring for school-aged children. Meanwhile, flexi-time remains the most…

Autism-Europe’s international congresses are dedicated to sharing advances in practical and scientific knowledge about autism to as wide an audience as possible, including researchers, professionals, parents and self-advocates. The theme of the 2016 Congress is Happy, healthy and empowered.  The Congress will focus on the most recent developments across the field of autism, including causes, genetics, diagnosis, early intervention, treatments, education, support, employment, rights and policies, and many more. It will also cover the evolution of knowledge, rights and services for autistic people, as well as providing insight into future developments in knowledge and technologies for autistic people that may soon become a part of everyday life. Click here to read more