Top Companies Challenged to Support Disabled People

Leonard Cheshire Disability has been urging CEOs of the UK's leading FTSE 100 companies to pledge their support to bring disabled students into the workforce. The charity is contacting the companies and asking them to join its Change 100 programme by providing work placements for disabled undergraduates and giving them an opportunity to get their introduction to work.

Speaking at the UK's first national disability employment conference in central London - which brings together 300 employers, government and charities - Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability, Clare Pelham, said: We know that our best companies value talent. We also know there are tremendously talented disabled people searching for work and they could be our country's future leaders or entrepreneurs if they are given the chance. That is why we are launching Change 100 to bring the two together.

By providing a 100-day summer work placement, alongside mentoring and other support, we hope that both employers and undergraduates will have an experience valuable in itself. And importantly it would be the start of a different world of work in the future. She added: We know many disabled people do wish to work. We know also that customers of large and small employers welcome diverse workforces, whether in their local bank branch or their corner shop. We know that companies wish to employ talented people. It's time for us to bring them together and create a world of work that looks like our street, our village or our town, with no one left out. We hope companies will take up the help we are offering with Change 100.

The charity has been supporting disabled people into work for many years and has close knowledge of the many issues they face. Specialist training, expert accessibility advice and a wide range of schemes, including shadowing and work mentoring, are on offer from the charity to support companies and disabled people at work.

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