Over eighty top employers will attend Wales’ largest employment and inclusion conference at Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium this Friday, 28th September.

The free summit – organised by Leonard Cheshire Wales, Daniel Biddle and inclusion consultancy Delsion – will look to further inform the conversation around inclusion in the workplace and accelerate the process in Wales and across the UK.

Currently just half of disabled people in the UK are employed (50.7%) — compared with eight in 10 non-disabled people (81.1%).  Among the attendees will be Airbus, Great Western Railway, Legal & General, NHS, South Wales Police and Welsh Government HR.

The keynote speaker will be Assembly Member Julie James, Chief Whip and Leader of the House and the Welsh Government Minister leading on Disability and the Fair Work Commission. She will be joined by Daniel Biddle, CEO of his own consultancy; Nationwide Access Consultants Ltd and survivor of the July 2005 London bombings, Julian John of Delsion and Kate Nash OBE of PurpleSpace.

Daniel says the summit is a step in the right direction:

“The putting on of the employment summit is for me, the first step in a very long journey of changing attitudes and perceptions towards disability in recruitment and the workplace. I hope that the summit acts as a building block for employers to view the vast talent pool of disabled people as viable candidates for employment”.

Delsion managing director Julian John, said:

“Swansea was the UK’s first Disability Confident city in 2015 and local employers have long since demystified the concept of employing disabled people. It’s fitting to hold the summit here and start building towards Wales becoming the most disability confident country in Europe.”

Glyn Meredith, director of operations for Leonard Cheshire Wales, added:

“Our employment programme Change 100 is flourishing and we’re confident that the situation for disabled applicants is getting increasingly positive but there is much more work to be one. We’re all up for the challenge.”