International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2020: Panel talk with Emma Gardner & Will Pike

Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World.

If you've done our Disability in the Workplace e-learning module, you'll know that Disabled people are one of the largest and most excluded groups in the workplace. In some ways, Covid has made the rest of us understand what disabled people have been saying for years : Flexible working and remote working can work! On the other hand, we also know that Covid is strengthening existing inequality. Here at The Hobbs Consultancy, we strongly support this year's theme for the 'International day of Persons with Disabilities' - Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World.

Come and join us for a free lunchtime session where we will hear prominent disability activists discuss how we can rebuild in a truly inclusive way.

Our Panel

Will Pike

Will became a paraplegic in 2008 when he was injured during the Mumbai Terror Attack. After spending six months being rehabilitated at the Spinal Injury Unit in Stanmore, he returned home to London and began life as a disabled person.

Will is a presenter, writer, public speaker and disability rights activist. Will advises and speaks on a number of disability related issues; consulting with The Hobbs Consultancy to produce the Disability in the Workplace e-learning module.

Will is going to talk about his journey with physical accessibility - from an able-bodied man who had never thought about this topic, he is now a paraplegic who is constantly vigilant to where and how he can access the workplace, shops and houses. He will talk about how companies can create a more accessible workplace by consulting with disabled people and making adjustments. Finally, he will touch on how the pandemic has shown that certain ways of working, which the disabled community have been championing for years, are in fact possible and effective, and how we can use this moment as a catalyst for long lasting change.

Emma Gardner

Co-Founder at Born Equal Consults, Emma is passionate about celebrating difference and reframing outdated narratives of disability. She believes in promoting and striving for *The Three Es: Everyday Equity for Everyone.

She has worked with charities, industry bodies, agencies & clients to raise awareness of the importance of representing & including disability within businesses, their output & their wider reach. Emma is a regular speaker and commentator on disability – Media Trust, lbb online, Creative Brief, Hubdot, Interlaced, Transform & Communicate Magazine, Zebedee Management.

Emma is going to talk about how her experience as a parent to a disabled child has forced her to a realisation of just how much "stuff" isn't fit for purpose - whether it's inaccessible, ugly, expensive or just not in existence yet. She is on a mission to improve online accessibility and has been helping THC with improving their offering in this area. She wants to be a creator of things that improve day-to-day life and is now working full time to achieve that goal.

Our 60-minute panel talk will be hosted by Roxanne Hobbs, founder of The Hobbs Consultancy.

Roxanne is a key influencer in driving the Inclusivity and Diversity agenda in the advertising industry, believing that we need to remove the barriers to success in the workplace and create cultures where people can show up as themselves and be valued for it.

In March 2017, her eldest son was diagnosed with ASD and she was struck immediately by how we ask those that aren't neurotypical to change so they can fit with neurotypical norms. She is now heavily involved in creating and sustaining a conversation about Neurodiversity in the workplace - believing that there are many people with so much to offer that find it hard to access and to thrive in this environment.

Access

Upon signing up for your ticket, you will receive a diary invite with zoom log in details. If you have any additional needs that we can support you with so that this webinar is accessible to you, please do get in touch with Emma@thehobbsconsultancy.com

Tickets

Your ticket to this webinar is free, though you may consider giving a donation to charity Kids, who are supporting families with disabled children with vital services throughout the pandemic. www.kids.org.uk/donate/give-to-kids/