I am fortunate to have some amazing people in my networks who I regularly have creative and inspiring conversations with about how to change the world. These ‘putting the world to rights’ conversations usually take place over a coffee or a glass of wine and usually the ideas get left behind in the café or bar.

For a long time, I have wanted to find a way to share some of the conversations I have. Over lock down I decided to start a social change podcast as a way to share some of these conversations. It’s been a definite learning curve, which hasn’t been without its moments of stress. Back in lock down, everyone it seemed was after podcast starter packs and microphones, and you couldn’t get equipment for love nor money! I then had to learn how to use it and learn what makes a good podcast. You listen to the likes of Louis Theroux and Peter Crouch and they make it look so easy – trust me, it really isn’t.

There is so much more to creating and marketing a podcast than I ever could have imagined. Thankfully, I have had some incredible people on my side. My friend Jay has been a diamond as has another friend Paul from Vipodcasting, both have helped no end. However, it’s nothing without the guests and I have had some incredible people agree to be part of it.

this week I launch the first episode in series 1 of The Aperture. Each episode features me talking to someone on a topic close to them, about ideas on how to make systems and situations better to benefit society. I then hand over to a poet to produce a creative response to the conversation.

The Aperture is out soon so watch this space for ways to listen. In the meantime follow on twitter or on Facebook.

I recently ran a webinar entitled, ‘Post Covid-19 Disability Considerations in your Workplace’ in which I suggested that everyone has experienced disability over the Coronavirus period.

How come? Well, because I believe disability is the experience of barriers. It is a social model definition which suggests that if we reduce and remove barriers people become less disabled. It defines a disabled person as a person with an impairment who experiences disability.

Let me explain. A wheelchair user is disabled if a flight of stairs is the only entrance to a building. However, the same person with the same impairment can independently access the building if a ramp is also provided, so is not disabled in the second scenario.

It follows, that this definition also means that if barriers are increased, people become more disabled. The recent lockdown has been a unique experience as every one of us has faced barriers. Everyone has experienced being denied access to spaces and services; everyone has been excluded from seeing who they want, when they want; and many people have found themselves working from unsuitable work-stations in environments that do not serve them well. This is a small snapshot of many disabled people’s normal. Recently everyone has experienced barriers and so have been ‘situationally disabled’

Experiencing some additional barriers over a period of months does not mean you know what it is like to live and work with an impairment or long-term health condition. However, it does mean you now know:

· The energy and effort required to work around restrictions

· The skills required to navigate around barriers

· The impact working in this way can have on your mental health and wellbeing

· The positive impact when understanding and flexibility is shown to your situation.

As lockdown restrictions are eased and barriers begin to be removed, non-disabled people are becoming less ‘situationally disabled’. I hope a renewed respect develops for the skill sets that disabled people display every day in order to operate in a world and workplace where experiencing barriers is commonplace. Remember how adaptable you became; the ways you thought creatively; and how resourceful you were during this Coronavirus period? Perhaps you can now view disabled candidates and colleagues as having valuable assets based on their lived experience and will reduce or remove barriers where you know they exist.

Get in touch for further information about the webinar.

I have been running my inclusion consultancy, Making Lemonade, since 2003. This time two years ago I was approached to take up the position of Head of Employment at Thomas Pocklington Trust. My role was to lead on the charity’s planning and programming of all internal and external activities aimed at increasing the employment prospects of blind and partially sighted people in the UK.

I left this role and returned home to Making Lemonade at the end of 2019. I had made a good start at changing how we look at the employment gap faced by blind and partially sighted people and a strategy around new ways to address it. I was then offered freelance work delivering personal development training to disabled staff within a number of large corporates and as I love this work I returned to Making Lemonade.

Who would have thought in January as I began to build up my portfolio of work again that I’d be writing this with a clear diary? We’d barely heard of the Coronavirus back then, let alone known the impact it would have on all of us. As a result, I am open for business only for services that can be delivered remotely. What this means currently is that I am continuing my coaching, as this was delivered to my clients by phone anyway, and I am facilitating a remote action learning set. Gladly, it seems my personal development training will be rescheduled to when it is safe for all of us to
get out and about again.

We are only in March and 2020 has seen life deal most of us lemons! Now feels like the time to find an adaptable lemonade recipe that can be made around current Coronavirus restrictions.