UK Disability History Month: Why It Matters for Vocational Rehabilitation

UK Disability History Month: Why It Matters for Vocational Rehabilitation

Every November, UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) invites us to look backwards in order to act better now. It’s more than a commemorative campaign—it’s a call to action for practitioners, employers, and service providers to understand how history shapes today’s barriers and to commit to meaningful change.

What Is UKDHM?

UKDHM is a UK-wide annual campaign that shines a light on the histories of disabled people—stories of institutionalisation, segregation, activism, and the fight for inclusion. It also exposes ongoing discrimination in education, employment, housing, transport, and digital access. At its heart is the social model of disability: the idea that people are disabled by barriers, not by their impairments.

Each year, UKDHM sets a theme to help organisations focus their events and training. The 2025 theme is “Disability, Life and Death,” offering a powerful lens to explore how disabled lives have been valued—or devalued—across history and systems.

Why It Matters for Vocational Rehabilitation

For vocational rehabilitation (VR) professionals—whether you’re an adviser, OT, case manager, or employer liaison—UKDHM is a chance to re-centre disability justice in your practice.

• 🔄 Reframe the narrative: VR can sometimes slip into a medical model—“how can we fix this person so work fits?” UKDHM reminds us to prioritise changing the workplace over “fixing” the person.
• 📚 Refresh legal literacy: The Equality Act 2010 requires employers to make reasonable adjustments to prevent substantial disadvantage. VR professionals should be fluent in what those adjustments look like and where to find guidance.
• 🧠 Challenge outdated attitudes: Historical ideas about “incapacity” or “charity cases” still influence assessments, benefit rules, and employer perceptions. UKDHM offers a safe, public hook to discuss these legacies.
• 📣 Amplify disabled leadership: Use UKDHM resources to highlight disabled activists, artists, and educators in staff briefings or “lunch & learn” sessions.
• 🤝 Co-produce workplace change: Collaborate with disabled staff or clients to define inclusive recruitment, return-to-work, and neurodiversity-affirming practices.

Messages You Can Use

• “Disability History Month is not only about the past—it’s about understanding how yesterday’s policies created today’s barriers, so we don’t repeat them.”
• “The UK has strong equality legislation, but implementation depends on practitioners and employers knowing what ‘reasonable adjustments’ actually look like.”
• “Vocational rehabilitation is most effective when it applies the social model—we remove the barrier, not the person.”

Practical Ideas for November (1–30)

Here are five ways to embed UKDHM into your VR practice this month:

1. 🧠 Staff CPD session
   Run a 45-minute session on the history of UK disability rights, Equality Act duties, and case studies on work adjustments. Use UKDHM slides and the gov.uk reasonable adjustments page.
2. 🗣️ Client-facing workshop
   Host a “Know Your Employment Rights” session. Cover how to request adjustments, frame them effectively, and where to go if refused—Citizens Advice has excellent resources.
3. 📬 Employer engagement mail-out
   Tie your usual employer contacts to UKDHM. Promote inclusive recruitment, work trials, and flexible working using Access to Work as a funding route.
4. 🖼️ Story or display
   Highlight UK disabled campaigners or local disabled staff/service users (with consent). Use the UKDHM history archive for inspiration.
5. 🔍 Mini-access audit
   Review your own VR service—forms, appointment letters, assessment environments, digital platforms—and fix three things in November. Link your audit to UKDHM’s access planning materials.

Additional Resources to Explore and Share

• UKDHM main site – background, annual theme, teaching packs, events, and history timelines
• UKDHM education hub – training materials, bullying/harassment resources
• Equality Act 2010 guidance – legal duties and rights
• Reasonable adjustments for disabled workers – practical employer-friendly guidance
• Access to Work – funding support for equipment, transport, and support workers
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – UK obligations and ratification info
• Disability Rights UK and Scope – rights-based explainers and helplines
• Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 – positive representation and case studies

UKDHM is a chance to align our work with the values of disability justice, legal rights, and inclusive practice. Let’s make November a month of reflection, action, and co-production.

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