Disability Smart Awards 2021: A huge congratulations!
Last Thursday, 2nd December, organisations across the globe celebrated their achievements at Business Disability Forum’s (BDF) Disability Smart Awards.
Sponsored by Microlink, the 2021 Disability Smart Awards set out to ‘celebrate the work businesses achieve to help transform the lives of disabled people in the workplace and in society’. And that it did!
Over a virtual awards ceremony, attendees heard all about the great work carried out by organisations, influencers and beyond. We, like so many, were left inspired!
Year after year, the Disability Smart Awards provide a platform for change-makers to inspire one another. Through sharing successful initiatives, we can help each other to decide on our own commitments and drive change.
This year, we were proud to see many of our customers, friends and fellow associates listed as finalists and winners.
If you didn’t attend the awards ceremony, we’ve shared some highlights below…
But first, what does it mean to be ‘Disability Smart’?
We were joined by BDF’s CEO, Diane Lightfoot, for a Texthelp Talks podcast, where Diane explained;
“Disability-smart is the phrase that we coined and which we use across quite a lot of our work to mean going beyond disability confidence to the next level. Really knowing what to do and what to action to provide a great work and customer environment for everyone, including disabled people.
“Our ethos is that to get it right for disabled people, it means a cross-organisational approach. It's not just about the responsibility of HR or diversity inclusion teams. It actually cuts across the whole business from senior leadership to line managers, to procurement, to IT, to communications, to premises…We call that being disability smart, getting that right.
“About half of our members and partners operate beyond the UK, so we want to reflect that in our vision…we say world in the vision and the vision is actually creating a disability smart world together because we passionately believe it's going to be a joint effort for all of us, business, government, disabled people, advocacy groups. It's up to all of us to make this change and make this happen.”
Now, on to the awards…
Across 15 categories, countless organisations received nominations, many were listed as finalists and received commendations, and some went on to receive awards. We’d like to congratulate every single one!
Whether a nominee, finalist, highly commended, or award winner, each is doing fantastic work in the diversity and inclusion space. Well done!
We’d like to extend a personal congratulations to our friends on their achievements:
KPMG
- Disability Smart Workplace Experience Award - Winner
This award ‘recognises organisations that have gone the extra mile to become a truly great place to work’.
KPMG were chosen because they’ve introduced a ‘wide range of activities which focus on staff wellbeing and intersectionality.’ Speaking of their chosen winners, the judging panel explained that KMPG have recognised and embraced the opportunities presented by the ongoing pandemic;
“Their care for staff wellbeing is highlighted in their decision to focus on wellbeing resources in all communications, continually checking in with disabled colleagues and also creating a ‘Covid Special Leave Code’ which colleagues could use if they were unable to work due to parental or caring responsibilities, with no impact on their pay or benefits.
“There has been a focus on intersectionality, whilst their ‘make a difference by sharing your difference’ campaign and performance manager training rounds out an excellent all-round package of activity.”
Well done to KPMG on winning this award!
- Disability Confident Covid-19 Innovation Award - Winner (Mark Russell, Inclusion, Diversity & Social Equality Manager at KPMG UK)
Focused on the Disability Confident Scheme, this award rewards ‘an inspirational employer that can demonstrate that they have actively supported their disabled employees throughout the pandemic period’.
Congratulations Mark!
- Disability Smart Lifetime Achievement Award - Winner (Tony Cates, Senior Disability Champion at KPMG)
This award ‘celebrates the work of an outstanding individual who has shown ongoing commitment to improving life opportunities for disabled people’.
Speaking of their chosen winner, Diane Lightfoot, CEO of BDF said;
“Tony Cates is a true role model as a senior leader who talks openly about his disability. He has been Senior Disability Champion at KPMG for many years, using his influence to increase understanding of disability within the organisation and beyond. He is also a great nurturer and developer of his team, recognising the need to bring colleagues on the journey with him”.
Well done Tony on winning this award!
- Disability Smart Diversity & Inclusion Professional Award - Highly Commended (Mark Russell, Inclusion, Diversity & Social Equality Manager at KPMG UK)
This award ‘recognises professionals who have made an outstanding contribution to furthering disability inclusion within their organisation and beyond’. It ‘celebrates individuals who have been working, often behind the scenes and unnoticed, to keep disability inclusion at the forefront of their organisation’s diversity and inclusion agenda.’
Well done to Mark for receiving a High Commendation!
West Midlands Police
- Disability Confident Impact Award - Winner
This award recognises organisations ‘that can demonstrate that they have actively progressed through the different levels of the Disability Confident scheme’.
As the winner, West Midlands Police were able to ‘demonstrate that there has been a positive impact on the organisation in terms of disability employment and other opportunities such as apprenticeships, internships, work experience’.
Congratulations on winning this award!
- Disability Smart Workplace Adjustments Award - Finalist
This award ‘recognises teams that have developed and implemented a workplace adjustments process that has proven to have improved the working lives of disabled people’.
Well done on being listed as a Finalist!
HSBC
- Disability Smart Leader Award - Winner (Ian Stuart, CEO of HSBC UK Bank plc.)
This award ‘recognises inspirational leaders who have led and overseen the implementation of real and tangible improvements for disabled people’.
As an award that ‘celebrates individuals who lead by example and use their position to create a better environment for disabled people locally, nationally, and globally’, HSBC’s Ian Stuart was named the winner.
Speaking on their chosen winner, the judging panel said:
“Ian Stuart is an exemplar as a disability champion and in his leadership in driving disability inclusion throughout HSBC. He actively and consistently demonstrates the power of storytelling, sharing his experiences as a father of disabled adults and creating a safe space for others to ask for the support they need.”
Well done Ian!
- Disability Confident Covid-19 Innovation Award - Finalist
This award is presented to a Disability Confident employer that can ‘demonstrate that they have actively supported their disabled employees throughout the pandemic period’.
Well done to HSBC on being listed as a Finalist!
Skipton Building Society
- Disability Smart Customer Service Award - Winner
This award ‘recognises organisations that have provided excellent customer service, not just to disabled people but to everyone’.
Speaking of their chosen winner, BDF highlighted that Skipton Building Society was chosen ‘for the ambitious training programme they have rolled out to their customer facing staff’.
In their feedback, the judging panel said:
“Skipton Building Society have become the early adopters and leaders in the field of accessible communication. They have really taken up the baton, rolling out Communication Access UK (CAUK) training to all their customer facing colleagues. They are also offering the training to their non-customer facing colleagues.”
Well done to the team at Skipton Building Society on winning this award!
Recently, we spoke with Hannal Hall, Customer Empathy Lead at Skipton Building Society, on the importance of accessible communication, particularly across digital channels. Hannah emphasised that “Everyone has the right to access online information”, and stressed that digital accessibility must be ingrained into an organisation. She noted, “to be successful, it’s got to be continuous, collaborative and evolving across the entire workforce.”
University of Warwick
- Disability Smart Built Environment Award - Winner
This award 'recognises organisations that have created beautiful, accessible and inclusive physical environments for everyone, including disabled people. The award celebrates truly inclusive design that has gone the extra mile to break down barriers experienced by disabled people'.
University of Warwick were chosen 'for the work carried out by its Estates Team to create a suite of accessible rooms within its student accommodation'.
Speaking of their chosen winner, the judging panel said;
“This is a great example of normalising access features so that students who need adjustments and support can live in halls and participate in student life as independently as possible. The spark for this work was a particular student with complex disabilities and care needs. The student had been turned away from several other universities because of a lack of suitable accommodation. We commend the Estates Team for showing what can be achieved.”
Congratulations on winning this award!
Ruh Global Impact
- Disability Smart Leader Award - Finalist
This award ‘recognises inspirational leaders who have led and overseen the implementation of real and tangible improvements for disabled people’.
Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Impact, is a Global Disability Inclusion Strategist, internationally recognised keynote speaker, published author, and branding expert. Debra travels the world inspiring and advocating for governments and corporations to include people with disabilities.
Much of Debra’s work focused on advocating equality for people with disabilities. For example, her recent whitepaper, co-authored by Texthelp’s CEO, raises awareness of the accessibility of online financial services.
Well done on being listed as a Finalist Debra!
Network Rail
- Disability Smart Built Environment Award - Finalist
This award ‘recognises organisations that have created beautiful, accessible and inclusive physical environments for everyone, including disabled people’.
Well done to Network Rail on being listed as a Finalist!
Discover more about Network Rail’s inclusive initiatives in this case study.
AutoTrader
- Disability Smart Workplace Experience Award - Highly Commended
This award ‘recognises organisations that have gone the extra mile to become a truly great place to work’.
Well done to the team at AutoTrader on receiving a High Commendation for your great work in this area!
Inclusion North
- Disability Smart Communications Award - Highly Commended
This award 'recognises organisations or teams that have created truly inclusive and accessible communications for disabled people'.
Well done to the team at Inclusion North on receiving a High Commendation for your great work in this area!
Mills & Reeve
- Disability Smart Recruitment Team Award - Highly Commended
This award 'recognises recruitment teams that have created innovative, engaging and most of all, inclusive and accessible recruitment campaigns that have resulted in greater numbers of disabled people obtaining work or accessing a profession'.
Well done to the team at Mills & Reeve on receiving a High Commendation for your great work!
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Disability Smart Learning & Development Award - Finalist
The award ‘recognises teams that have created innovative, engaging and most of all, inclusive and accessible learning and development solutions for everyone, including disabled people’.
Well done to the team at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on being listed as a Finalist!
University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust
- Disability Confident Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace Award - Finalist
This award is presented to a Disability Confident employer that can ‘demonstrate that they have placed Mental Health and Wellbeing at the heart of their organisation’.
Well done to the team at UHB NHS Foundation Trust on being listed as a Finalist!
- Disability Confident Covid-19 Innovation Award - Finalist
This award is presented to a Disability Confident employer that can ‘demonstrate that they have actively supported their disabled employees throughout the pandemic period’.
Well done on being listed as a Finalist!
Recently, UHB's Head of Inclusion-Improvement, Communications & Engagement, joined us for a DE&I roundtable discussion. During our chat, Byron shared a great piece of advice for gaining leadership buy-in on DE&I initiatives;
"There's a great model out there called ‘Head, heart and hands’. The head, that's kind of the intellectual bit. So you know, the legal case, the business case. That's just not finite, that's kind of what the intrinsic values that we are losing or not bringing in if we haven't got that coming from a leadership perspective. The other is about that emotional and moral case, you know that thing about social justice, you know that all these resources should be free and fair for everybody. And that last bit is about the behavior, you know the actions for better engagement. So I think when we're coming to do this work and I think it's a hard piece of work for D&I leads, you've got to think which bits of that are going to tap into which bits of the leadership."
National Highways
- Disability Smart Customer Service Award - Finalist
This award 'recognises organisations that have provided excellent customer service not just to disabled people but to everyone'.
Well done to the team at National Highways on being listed as a Finalist!
Shell
- Disability Confident Covid-19 Innovation Award - Finalist (Shell Information Technology International B.V.)
This award rewards 'a Disability Confident employer that can demonstrate that they have actively supported their disabled employees throughout the pandemic period. This could include making appropriate workplace adjustments that have enabled staff to work remotely or in a blended way, supporting them to deliver their work effectively.'
Well done to the team at Shell on being listed as a Finalist!
Congratulations to all!
Discover more about the awards by visiting the Business Disability Forum website. Or, explore the government’s Disability Confident Scheme, and discover how you can make a difference for disability inclusion.