Yasmin Sheikh experienced a life-altering event on March 18th, 2008, when she suffered a spinal stroke at the age of 29, unexpectedly rendering her wheelchair-bound. Before this event, she had been working as a lawyer. However, upon returning to work a year later, she found herself drawn to a different path – one focused on diversity and inclusion.
Sheikh noticed a glaring gap in discussions surrounding disability inclusion within the legal profession, recognising that disabled individuals were often overlooked in conversations about diversity. Drawing from her journey with disability, she now approaches diversity and inclusion training with a unique perspective.
One of the biggest challenges Yasmin has faced due to her disability is attitudinal barriers. She said, “There is often a soft bigotry of low expectation towards disabled people. Before my injury people used to ask me 'What do you do?' and now the question is 'Do you work?' There is often no malice or ill-intention but massive assumptions are made about your abilities. Having to constantly overcompensate or feel like you need to prove yourself can be exhausting.”
“The strategies I have found to overcome these barriers is to show confidence and guide others to demonstrate independence and control”, she further added.
According to Yasmin, training is essential to challenge people’s biases and assumptions about disability. Conversations can take place in a safe environment where people can express their discomfort and challenges dealing with disability-related issues in the workplace.
Explaining this view, she said, “In most training sessions, people will express ableist views, which occasionally I may feel particularly sensitive about given that I am a disabled person. However, I would rather someone express this view in a safe environment so that we can use this as a teaching moment and they can leave the session feeling more confident and competent regarding disability inclusion. I do remember a manager once saying during a training session, ‘If I knew someone was disabled then I wouldn’t employ them.’ So where do you even begin?”
She also shared that the emphasis on women being attractive according to what society deems as beautiful can create a challenge for disabled women. If culturally a woman’s worth is determined by her marriage prospects, ability to bear children and be a wife caring for her husband’s emotional and physical needs then this again can create challenges for disabled women where others may perceive they are excluded from being considered “good wife and mother” material.
Assessing the current state of disability inclusion in the UK, Yasmin is of the opinion that there have been both progress and ongoing challenges. “There are positive developments in some sectors, notably in public services and technology, yet significant gaps remain in areas like employment, accessibility, and social attitudes”, she said.
