Employers increasingly are recognising the benefits of a diverse workforce, and the different knowledge, strengths and experience this brings to their organisation. This page is designed to support students with disabilities, neurodivergent conditions, mental health conditions and long-term health conditions in navigating their career journey.
Below you'll find information on your legal rights, how to assess if organisations are genuinely inclusive, how to discuss your disability or condition with employers, adjustments and further resources for work opportunities and advice.
As a starting point, check out our short videos on finding inclusive employers and discussing your disability with employers.
Disability
- Your legal rights
- Our services for disabled and neurodivergent students
- Finding inclusive employers
- Discussing disability or neurodiversity with employers
- Adjustments
- Autism
- Mental health conditions
- Useful links
The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities. Note, disability includes physical or sensory impairments, neurodivergence (such as autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or ADHD), mental health and long-term health conditions (such as cancer, diabetes, or HIV).
If you meet this definition and choose to share your disability with an employer, you are legally protected against discrimination. Many people choose to discuss their disability with employers so they can request adjustments in the recruitment process or workplace.
The Careers service offers a range of services for disabled students, including workshops on finding inclusive employers and discussing disability and neurodiversity. We also promote external opportunities, networking events and mentoring schemes through JobsLive, our weekly newsletter, and through our disability careers newsletter, sent out via the Disability Advisory Service.
See our range of appointments available if you wish to discuss anything from career planning and applications to recruitment or workplace adjustments. If you would prefer a text-based conversation through MS Teams chat, please book a Careers Discussion (online) and state this in the booking notes.
Employers who value diversity actively seek to hire disabled and neurodivergent candidates. Here are steps you can take to assess their inclusivity:
- Are they Disability Confident? The UK Government's Disability Confident scheme is an initiative for employers committed to inclusive hiring. While not a guarantee, it is a useful indicator. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provides a list of participating employers.
- Do they have a comprehensive diversity/inclusivity statement on their website? For larger employers, general equal opportunities statements are the bare minimum. Giving specific statements and policies for disability showing they are more likely to be genuinely inclusive. Note that SMEs may be less likely to have this information on their website.
- Does the employer run disability inclusive schemes/initiatives? Some employers actively recruit through disability focused organisations such as EmployAbility, Change 100, Enna or MyPlus.
- Do they have a disability network? Internal employee networks (such as Able@Imperial at Imperial) promote inclusivity and can provide insight into a company culture. Check the employer's website or ask HR to put you in touch directly with their disability network.
- Do they have a Disability Champion officer? Appointing staff to oversee disability inclusion shows commitment to inclusivity. Research the employer's website or look through their people on the organisation's LinkedIn page using terms such as disability, diversity or inclusivity. If you find someone, you could contact them and assess if the interaction is positive.
- Can you ask questions about their disability and neurodiversity recruitment and support? Ask to be put in touch, anonymously if you prefer, with the person responsible for inclusive recruitment and support. SMEs may be less likely to have someone formally in this role but you can still assess how they deal with the question. If they respond positively, it may show the employer is inclusive.
You decide if, when and how to share your disability or neurodivergent condition with employers. Reasons to share may include:
- Requesting adjustments in the recruitment process and/or workplace;
- You will be protected from discrimination by the Equality Act 2010.
Tips for disclosure
- You do not need to go into personal detail, just what is relevant to performance in the interview or job.
- You can share at any stage: during applications, before an interview, after receiving an offer or once in the workplace.
- Consider whether your disability or neurodivergent condition enhances your skills. This can be a strength in applications and interviews.
For more information on this, take a look at the AGCAS Disclosure - Neurodiversity handout for ideas.
Adjustments help remove barriers related to disability or neurodiversity, either during recruitment processes or in the workplace. Examples include:
- Recruitment adjustments - extra time for interviews or psychometric tests, alternative interview formats (e.g. written responses) or access to a quiet space during an assessment centre.
- Workplace adjustments - flexible working hours, adapted workspaces or a quiet location for your workspace.
You should be prepared to make suggestions of adjustments to employers. Take a look at AGCAS Reasonable Adjustments - Neurodiversity for some examples. For adjustments related to psychometric tests, read Psychometric tests - a guide for disabled and neurodivergent applicants.
Most adjustments are free, however the Access to Work scheme, can help for any adjustment costs including recruitment support, specialist equipment and transport. This funding doesn't have to be repaid and won't affect other benefits.
Developing employability skills for autistic students and graduates
- A free employability course hosted on Udemy and supported by AGCAS and others. It covers interview preparation, adjustments, knowing yourself & your autism, and planning your career path.
Careers Programme for autistic students
Hosted in the Careers video library are recordings of autism specific workshops giving tips and strategies on different parts of the recruitment process. These workshops include:
- Finding inclusive employers and writing applications;
- Interviews (two parts) ;
- Assessment Centre - group work tasks.
Advice for autistic students from an autistic Imperial alumna
Sarah is an alumna with autism who, after Imperial, moved into a job as a Data Scientist for a Technology Consultancy. Listen to her advice in 'Advice for autistic students from an Imperial graduate', for present autistic students looking for and applying for jobs and internships.
Interview adjustments previously requested by autistic students
Following on from the adjustments section above, you could look through this list of adjustments autistic students have previously requested.
- To be given the interview questions or themes beforehand;
- To be given the structure of the interview beforehand, e.g., five minutes introducing company, 10 minutes (or three) motivational questions, 20 minutes (or four) competency questions, five minutes for you to ask any questions you may have;
- For the time allocated for the interview to be extended, to give longer to process questions and formulate answers;
- For the interview to take place remotely through an online platform;
- Then the interview is in-person, that it takes place in a quiet environment, free from distractions e.g., phones, ticking clocks, glass wall offices;
- For the interview questions to be clear and specific;
- For the interviewer to ask supplementary questions to ensure they get the information they need;
- For a supporter to accompany you, in case questions need rephrasing, or you need help with the question’s context. They can assist communication between you and the interviewer;
- For access to a quiet area or room, before and/or after.
Sharing autism with colleagues in the workplace
In the workplace, sharing autism with co-workers is a personal decision. Some people share with co-workers to introduce themselves and how they like approaching work. Creating a Tip sheet for autistic people in the workplace can help colleagues understand how you best like to work.
Useful autism specific websites
- Ambitious About Autism offer placements with employers across a range of sectors for autistic people. Their Autism Exchange team will work with you to identify any workplace adjustments you may want to request and to provide support throughout.
- AS Mentoring offer mentoring and employment support to autistic and other neurodivergent people. They also regularly run workshops on helping university students and recent graduates to find employment.
- CareTrade: Think Talent The Think Talent scheme is aimed at aspiring solicitors with neurodivergent conditions. Participants attend two placements, each lasting for 1-week. One placement is with the Barclays in-house legal team, and the other is with a partner law firm. During the scheme, adjustments are put in place and support is available to participants.
Interview adjustments previously requested by students with a mental health condition
Here are some adjustments that students with mental health conditions have successfully requested:
- Extra time during interview and aptitude testing to help with anxiety and nerves.
- Request an afternoon interview if you are lethargic in the morning due to medication.
- Frequent breaks and/or access to a quiet room or area, during an assessment centre.
Explaining your mental health condition
The AGCAS Explaining your mental health condition to others sheet contains useful information about talking to employers, including how to approach it and adjustments both in the recruitment process and the workplace.
Useful websites
- Mindful Employer - lists employers who have signed a voluntary charter supporting better mental health support in the workplace.
- Mind – have excellent resources such as information about the different types of mental health conditions, and tips on how to ensure positive mental health in the workplace
Internships & Graduate Schemes
- EmployAbility - resources and information for students/graduates of European countries with disabilities
- Leonard Cheshire's 'Change 100' - an internship scheme run by Leonard Cheshire for disabled students
- MyPlus Students Club - job opportunities and a student toolkit for disabled students
Job sites
- Astriid - connecting people with long-term health conditions with work opportunities
- Disability Jobsite - committed to helping employers recruit the best talent by making sure their recruitment process and jobs are accessible to disabled as well as non-disabled candidates
- Enna - Positions for neurodivergent job-seekers with inclusive employers
- Evenbreak – An job board helping inclusive employers attract disabled people
- Reach by Equal Approach - Reach aims to connect diverse talent with inclusive organisations. The site includes a directory of inclusive organisations and a job search
Finding disability positive employers
- Business Disability Forum - A business membership organisation focused on disability inclusion. Search through their members to find disability positive organisations
- Disability Confident Employers – Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) - This regularly updated document from the DWP lists employers who have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme, making a commitment to inclusive employment
- The Valuable 500 – A global collective of 500 CEOs and their companies, working for disability inclusion
- Career Accelerator's Neurodiversity and Disability mentoring programme – supports Neurodiverse and Disabled young people work with Neurodiverse and Disabled professionals at strong allies at top firms to help them prepare for and secure top jobs
Further useful sites
- Access to Work - help if your health or disability affects the way you do your job. It gives you and your employer advice, as well as support with extra costs which may arise because of your needs
- Association of Disabled Professionals - an association providing advice, information, and peer support to disabled professionals
- Blind In Business - a registered charity which helps blind and partially sighted students into work through training and employment services
- Exceptional Individuals - an organisation assisting neurodivergent people with recruitment support and employment opportunities
- The National Autistic Society - the National Autistic Society provide training to people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in work, and has a partnership with Remploy to help increase the number of people with autism entering employment
- Shaw Trust - Shaw Trust is a national charity which supports disabled and disadvantaged people to prepare for work, find jobs and live more independently
- You're Able - an online community of and for people with disabilities, including a forum for work and learning. Part of the Shaw Trust