Disability History Month 2025
Disability History Month takes place from 20 November until 20 December 2025. Our theme this year is Voices at Work: Valuing Disabled Talent, it provides an opportunity to share some of the lived experiences of disabled staff currently working in the NHS; highlight the value disabled people bring to the workplace and share insights and resources on how organisations can support disabled staff in their roles.
According to the NHS Staff Survey, nearly 1 in 4 of our NHS workforce has lived experience of a disability or long-term condition.
In 2025, there is still a 30 per cent gap between the employment rate for non-disabled people (83 per cent) and disabled people (53 per cent).
Disability History Month provided an opportunity to recognise and celebrate those people who bring personal lived experience of disability and long-term health conditions to their careers, teams, leadership and patient care.
According to the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) 2024, the number of disabled staff reporting that they received workplace adjustments to perform their duties has increased slightly from 73.4 per cent to 74.5 per cent. However, this still means that over a quarter of disabled staff do not have the adjustments they need to perform their role.
Disabled staff also report higher levels of bullying, harassment or abuse than non-disabled staff. If we are to achieve the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and the NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Improvement Plan, we need to work harder to create workplaces that are open and inclusive, and where everyone feels they belong.
Did you know 83 per cent of disabled people acquire their health condition during working age? Access our infographic to understand what a disability is and learn how organisations and managers can support disability in the workplace.
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Hattie Llewellyn-Davies, Chair, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
"I was born with a combination of three different autoimmune diseases, meaning that I have never known what it was like not to be someone with a disability/long-term condition. Like so many of us, the symptoms and impact on my life is never stable, for example my energy levels and mobility can vary massively day by day. I have worked in the NHS in four different trusts and in each of them it has been OK to have a disability and to be visible about it. That does not mean that any of the trusts have got it right all the time and often I have had to prompt, persuade and demand that reasonable adjustments are made for me. But overall, I have been welcomed and once my needs have been clear, each trust has done its best to make things work.However, we do need to have better guidance and support nationally on how to employ people with disabilities well. To make the best use of skills and unique lived experiences we must do better at welcoming more disabled people into the NHS workforce. We bring different experiences of life, different ways of resolving problems and unique perspectives on how to provide the best services on top of all the other skills abilities and qualifications we have as employees. We are also not enabling a large proportion of the population to come and work in the NHS as easily as we should and could do. For example, the 10 Year Health Plan includes a shift towards greater use of AI and digital tech. If the voice of disabled people is heard in the creation of AI and digital tech it will lead to products that are accessible for all patients and staff. If disabled people are not involved, it will lead to further exclusion.
In Disability History Month, I reflect on the difference my disabled colleagues have made to making services more accessible for large parts of our local communities. About a year ago I was fortunate enough to be part of a workshop to ensure a new Electronic Patient Record would be accessible to us all regardless of our disability. It was a fantastic and fascinating event as we jointly co-produced changes needed to ensure everyone in the community we served could access the system. We should be proud of ourselves for this kind of work and go on shaping change and making even more difference."
Lydia Warren, Group Inclusion Project Officer for the WDES and Neurodiversity Workplace Needs Assessor, Barts Health NHS Trust
"I was born with a physical disability called arthrogryposis and am a wheelchair user, so I have had to navigate the world facing different barriers and challenges all my life. Despite early predictions from doctors that I wouldn’t be able to do anything for myself, my parents equipped me with the tools and mindset to never give up. They always told me never to use the word “can’t,” and that I could do anything I set my heart to. I live by the social model of disability: it’s not my disability that is the problem, it’s society.
With that said, I am incredibly proud to work for one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK, where I have been able to serve as project inclusion officer for the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) and as co-chair of BartsAbility, our disability network.
Now as the former co-chair, I continue to advocate for colleagues with disabilities, long-term health conditions, and those who are neurodivergent, by amplifying the stories and perspectives of our disabled colleagues, we have been able to identify and address barriers, promote understanding, and implement meaningful changes in our workplace, such as being one of the first trust to implement the BartsAbility Workplace Passport, and to have the workplace adjustment funding, this was done by listening and learning from those with lived experience which has strengthened our collective resolve to create an environment where everyone feels seen, supported, and empowered to thrive."
Marce Quinn, University Hospitals Sussex Disabled Staff Network Lead
"Disability History Month provides an opportunity to reflect on the importance of disabled staff networks. I have been disabled for nearly 25 years and I started the Disabled Staff Network around 10 years ago. When I joined the trust, I found out that the network had ceased to be several years prior. After a bit of gentle pushing I took up the challenge of setting up the network which is now the University Hospitals Sussex Disabled Staff Network. In collaboration with a few colleagues, we wrote a list of things that we would be expecting from the trust.
One of those things was a health passport and despite many hurdles, discussions and negotiations I am proud to say that the Health & Wellbeing Passport was adopted by the trust around three years ago. We have a membership in the Disabled Staff Network of around 300, but many more who engage with us. I have the support of a deputy who is brilliant at the things I am not, such as Excel spreadsheets! I am proud of the change that our network has achieved.
I will be hosting a monthly podcast which will be our opportunity to speak to people on a range of themes that affect disabled people. It is hoped that by having a regular podcast, colleagues will have the opportunity to be kept informed of the network’s news and updates."
Samantha Ming, Group Inclusion Manager, EDI Business Partner and Neurodiversity Workplace Needs Assessor, Barts Health NHS Trust
As someone who is neurodivergent and lives with fibromyalgia and sarcoidosis, navigating the workplace hasn’t always been easy. For years, I carried the weight of masking, minimising, and pushing through often at the expense of my wellbeing. But everything shifted when I became the co-chair of our disability network.
It was in that role that I truly began to embrace my difference. I stopped apologising for the way my brain works and started recognising the strengths it brings - creativity, empathy, strategic insight, and a deep drive to make things better for others. I began to see my lived experience not as a barrier, but as a catalyst for change.
Through the network, I’ve had the privilege of amplifying the voices of disabled and neurodivergent colleagues, challenging systemic barriers, and co-creating solutions that reflect real needs. I’ve witnessed the power of storytelling, policy reform, and collective action and I’ve experienced how being seen and supported can transform not just individuals, but entire cultures.
Disability inclusion isn’t a tick-box. It’s a movement and I’m proud to be part of it."
Emma Mendes da Costa (she/her), Deputy Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, NHS Sussex; Chair, National Disability Support Network; Co-Chair, National Deaf and Hard of Hearing NHS Staff Network
"Disability History Month is a wonderful opportunity to both celebrate the amazing contributions of disabled NHS staff, and to shine a light on the challenges and barriers we still face in terms of accessibility, inclusion, and career progression.
I have profound bilateral hearing loss. I wear two bluetooth-enabled hearing aids, and use captions, lip-reading and basic British Sign Language to augment my day-to-day communications. I’m comfortable describing myself as both disabled and deaf, and I’m a passionate believer in using lived experience and storytelling in professional contexts like this, as it brings the subjects to life and enhances understanding and empathy between colleagues.
I joined the NHS eight years ago, and started working with staff networks in 2019, finding in them much-needed community and peer support, but also the tremendous power of collective voice. When I was asked to speak at the very first gathering of deaf and hard of hearing NHS colleagues in Leeds in 2023, I shared how staff networks had helped me to learn and grow, and my hope for the development of a national network for deaf and hard of hearing staff.
After that inaugural gathering, a dedicated group of deaf and hard of hearing colleagues from NHS organisations across the country worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring my hope to life, and the National Deaf and Hard of Hearing NHS Staff Network launched exactly a year after the Leeds event, on 13 March 2024. Our online launch event was attended by over 300 people, and the network now has over 600 members."
