Beyond compliance: Creating inclusive promotion pathways for disabled academics in Higher Education

In this blog, Senior Lecturers Dr Lovleen Kushwah and Dr Geethanjali Selvaretnam, at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow ask if HEIs are doing enough to support the career progression of staff with disability.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) typically assess promotions using standard metrics of research and scholarship output, teaching practice, external esteem, and leadership. Academics with various disabilities are often required to exert extra effort to achieve similar milestones as their non-disabled peers. According to the UK’s Equality Act 2010, organisations must make reasonable adjustments, ensuring staff with disability can thrive professionally without stigma, but personal experiences of ableism often remain hidden due to fears of professional repercussions. While the debates on accessibility often focus on physical access, and assistive technology, true accessibility also involves ensuring that individuals with disability are perceived and valued equally. This raises the question: are we doing enough to support the career progression of staff with disability?

The need for systemic change

Research highlights the need for systemic change, showing that addressing ableism benefits both academics with disability and the institutions themselves.  Fostering an inclusive work environment, as highlighted in the practical guide for managers by the Department of Work and Pensions, requires proactive efforts from line managers and human resources departments to facilitate open communication and tailored support for staff​ with disability. Thus, HEIs must move beyond mere compliance with disability legislation (enabling them to carry out only their current duties) and take significant steps to assist staff with disability throughout their careers, from hiring to promotion at all levels.

Both visible and invisible disabilities present unique challenges such as:

• staff with disability may need additional time for tasks due to medical appointments or necessary breaks, impacting traditional performance metrics

• individuals with visual impairments may struggle with body language cues which are important for leadership roles

• those with chronic conditions like autoimmune diseases often face difficulties managing heavy workloads with rigid schedules

• inaccessible spaces can limit mobility; invisible conditions such as mental health issues or chronic illnesses may require more flexible support.

Creating equitable promotion processes

This discussion centres on the need to create new roles, improve the environments, and re-think promotion criteria to provide equal opportunities for disabled staff. This is not to lower standards, but to enable staff with various disabilities to meet necessary career milestones. Despite their challenges, staff with disability are often efficient and excel in other areas. Recognising this, HEIs have an opportunity to create more inclusive environments by rethinking how success is measured, and promotion criteria are set (GOV UK, 2024) to accommodate reasonable adjustments. To create equitable promotion processes, institutions should implement flexible criteria that focus on the quality of work rather than rigid quantitative metrics. Adequate support, inclusive policies, and involvement in decision-making processes are vital (Ross, 2024).

An important question we pose is whether line managers actively discuss about support and adjustments with disabled staff to facilitate their career development. Some examples:  facilitating remote work, online and adjusted working, extensions on various deadlines, shared leadership roles, availability of quiet spaces and possibility for additional rest breaks, accessible virtual engagement, travel support might be needed to improve the external engagement or esteem profile.  Student-facing duties may receive more attention when reasonable adjustments are made, but it is unclear whether adjustments are made to support achievements in research, leadership, and esteem which are required for the next level of promotion.

The next important question is whether promotion criteria are subject to reasonable adjustment. Are promotion applications designed to allow staff to highlight disadvantages and how they’ve compensated for them? Can leadership, esteem, and other criteria be adjusted for specific disabilities, and what more can be done to facilitate this? Promotion committees must adjust expectations and timelines to accommodate the unique challenges faced by staff with disability. Additionally, empowering staff with disability to shape policies, offering ableism awareness training for promotion committees and line managers, and establishing mentorship programs for and by staff with disability can significantly enhance career advancement opportunities.

In conclusion

This opinion piece asks the question whether we are making reasonable adjustments to the promotion criteria and enabling staff with disabilities to achieve them. Achieving fairness in promotions demands a multi-faceted approach, where traditional criteria need to be reconsidered to acknowledge that teaching excellence, external and internal esteem, leadership and management, and research contributions can manifest in various forms. Addressing barriers, making reasonable adjustments, promoting representation, and fostering an environment free from ableism are essential steps in supporting staff with disability and ensuring their contributions are recognized and valued.  By embracing flexibility and inclusivity, we can foster a more equitable and supportive environment for all staff.  

Bibliography:

GOV UK | Department for Work and Pensions | Guidance: Recruiting, managing and developing disabled people: a practical guide for managers (Updated May 2024)

Arnold, P. and Disability Unit (2022), Why access is key: succeeding in work with a visual impairment, Raising awareness. (Accessed on 14 October 2024)

Dolan, V.L., 2023. ‘… but if you tell anyone, I’ll deny we ever met:’ the experiences of academics with invisible disabilities in the neoliberal university. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(4), pp.689-706.

 Frecker, L., 2021, Addressing barriers for STEM students and staff with disabilities, Advance HE (Accessed on 8 October 2024)

GOV, UK | Department for Work and Pensions, 2024, Employing disabled people: Disability Confident and CIPD manager’s guide - Recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition (Accessed on 8 October 2024)

Lindsay, S. and Fuentes, K., 2022. It is time to address ableism in academia: a systematic review of the experiences and impact of ableism among faculty and staff. Disabilities, 2(2), pp.178-203.

Ross, J. (2024), Disabled academics need a bigger say in sector, says professor, Times Higher education (Accessed on 8 October 2024)

Sang, K., Calvard, T. and Remnant, J., 2022. Disability and academic careers: Using the social relational model to reveal the role of human resource management practices in creating disability. Work, Employment and Society, 36(4), pp.722-740.

Yerbury, J.J. and Yerbury, R.M., 2021. Disabled in academia: to be or not to be, that is the question. Trends in Neurosciences, 44(7), pp.507-509.

Arnold, P. and Disability Unit (2022), Why access is key: succeeding in work with a visual impairment. Raising awareness (Accessed on 14 October 2024)