Making interviews and workplaces fully accessible

Managing a job search, writing CVs and cover letters, preparing for interviews, and negotiating terms with a prospective employer can be difficult and stressful for anyone. But for disabled chemists, juggling access needs and worries about disclosure can compound the challenges of navigating the job market.

Disabled people make up 20% of the working-age population, but are underrepresented in the chemical sciences, facing barriers that their non-disabled colleagues do not. To overcome these inequalities, employers have a responsibility to proactively consider the needs of prospective disabled employees – from job adverts to application forms, interviewing and entering a new workplace and beyond – instead of treating disabled chemists as a burdensome afterthought.