As the end of the year approaches, many of you may already be thinking about your New Year’s resolutions. But this year, let’s start a little sooner—with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on Tuesday, 3rd December. This day is a powerful reminder of the progress we can make toward a more inclusive and accessible world for people with disabilities.
We’ve created a four-week countdown to IDPD, treating it as a launchpad for a year of sustained inclusivity. Below, you’ll find weekly activities, goals, and ideas to help your organisation commit to tangible, inclusive actions for the coming year. This countdown is your chance to lay the groundwork for a fresh start or to further your journey in inclusivity.
Week 1: Self-Education & Awareness
Goal: Equip yourself and your team with a deeper understanding of disabilities, the barriers people face, and the language that fosters inclusivity.
Action Steps:
Listen to Firsthand Stories: Read articles or watch videos that share experiences of people with disabilities. This personal perspective can be eye-opening and set a tone of empathy and understanding. Explore Evenbreak’s blog and socials for first-hand accounts of being disabled in the workplace.
Learn Inclusive Language: Familiarise yourself with disability-positive language to avoid unintentional biases in daily interactions. Share a quick reference guide with your team, such as Inclusion London’s “Talking about disability – a practical guide.”
Book a Training Session: Set aside time for a team training session in disability inclusion. Evenbreak is a CPD-accredited training organisation, offering core sessions in several formats, including online or in-person sessions, as well as 1-hour, 3-hour, or full-day sessions perfect for away days. Find out more.
Outcome: By the end of the week, you’ll have a solid foundation for more informed and respectful interactions.
Week 2: Support Inclusive Communication & Practices
Goal: Develop habits and practices that make everyone feel welcome and heard.
Action Steps:
Promote Accessible Content: Commit to producing content in accessible formats, such as adding alt text to images, using high-contrast visuals, and ensuring website accessibility for screen readers. Read our blog on inclusive marketing.
Inclusive Meeting Practices: Ensure meetings are accessible by sharing agendas in advance and providing options for alternative participation, like virtual attendance or real-time transcription services, and ensuring regular breaks.
Support Disabled Culture: Take time to recognise IDPD as a significant date by taking an action from the list of ideas below. Share how you plan to recognise IDPD with Evenbreak so we can promote this to our candidates.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Collaborate with organisations who offer employment opportunities for disabled people whilst providing great products. Here are a few that we have used here at Evenbreak: Harry Specters Chocolates, Parallel Lifestyle, or Burwell Print Centre
- Support self-employed disabled business owners with a grant or bursary scheme or find them and give them and their products a shout out on social media to your followers!
- Sponsor organisations such as The Blackwood Design Awards; the Superhero Series; a wheelchair rugby team; or at grassroots level via easyfundraising.org
- Join the Evenbreak career fair at Naidex
- Create a 10-week paid internship for disabled candidates which we will advertise for FREE across socials and via our newsletter
- Create and offer a free training course for disabled candidates about how to break into your industry. We will advertise this for free across socials, our newsletter and a listing on the Career Hive
- Sponsor our Career Hive
- Tell your teams about apps like Be My Eyes, who offer descriptions of their surroundings to blind and visually impaired people, or volunteering for Talking Books and other organisations that remove barriers for disabled people
Outcome: Through inclusive communication and initiatives, you create an environment where disabled people feel valued and can contribute fully and meaningfully.
Week 3: Evaluate & Adapt Your Spaces
Goal: Identify and make simple adaptations to your physical and digital spaces to improve accessibility.
Action Steps:
Establish a Feedback Loop: Set up an anonymous feedback form so disabled employees or clients can suggest ongoing improvements.
Book an Accessibility Audit: Ensuring that the processes and site is accessible, inclusive and barrier-free is fundamental to ensuring that disabled candidates can apply for your roles. Evenbreak’s consultancy services aim to highlight existing areas of strength in process and practice as well as areas for development. We offer three fundamental consultancy services: inclusive recruitment review, workplace adjustment review and building auditing. Find out more about Evenbreak’s consultancy services.
Prioritise Key Changes: All our audits include a comprehensive report with detailed and actionable recommendations as well as an implementation and feedback meeting to explore changes in more detail and enable you to implement best practices with our ongoing support. Changes could include adding grab bars in toilets, ensuring doorways are wheelchair-accessible, or updating digital assets for color contrast.
Outcome: By identifying and implementing small, accessible changes, you’re actively showing your commitment to inclusivity in the workplace and beyond.
Week 4: Set Long-Term Inclusivity Goals
Goal: Prepare for the next year by setting clear, achievable, and impactful inclusivity goals.
Action Steps:
Develop a “52-Week” or “12-Month” Inclusivity Roadmap: Identify one inclusivity initiative per week for the coming year. Examples include reviewing recruitment practices, audits, or setting up mentorship programs for people with disabilities.
Build Accountability: Create a calendar of check-in points and assign team members to lead initiatives. Regularly discuss progress to keep momentum going.
Celebrate Your IDPD Milestone: End the four-week journey by commemorating IDPD. Share your roadmap publicly to inspire others and to hold yourselves accountable to a year of continued growth.
Outcome: By setting specific, measurable goals, you’ve ensured that inclusivity isn’t just a one-time commitment but a sustained priority.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) can be transformative, not only for your organisation but also for your understanding and support of disabled employees. As you work through each week, remember that inclusivity is an ongoing process—every step you take, no matter how small, builds a more accessible world. This IDPD, let’s make a lasting commitment to inclusivity. What inclusive resolutions will you make? Here’s to a fresh start toward a more inclusive world for all.
