Swansea has been named as the UK’s first Disability Confident city for its efforts to promote employment equality for disabled people.
Swansea Council and more than 60 businesses have signed up the Disability Confident campaign, which aims to debunk the myths around employing disabled people.
Minister for disabled people, Justin Tomlinson, said: ‘Swansea is leading the way by becoming the UK’s first Disability Confident city, something the whole community can be proud of. With this statement, Swansea has laid down a challenge to other cities and towns to follow its lead.
‘Disability Confident is about letting disabled people know that their skills and enterprise are recognised by employers, at the same time as encouraging firms to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce and disabled talent.’
Figures shows that 3.2 million disabled people are now in work compared to 2.9 million last year. The employment rate gap between disabled and non-disabled people is 32.9 percentage points in the UK, compared to 34 percentage points last year.
