Office for Disability Issues

About the Office for Disability Issues and Remploy

The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) supports the development of policies to remove inequality between disabled and non-disabled people. The main focus of their work is on reducing the barriers faced by disabled people, both in government and across wider business and society. In 2013, ODI changed its name to ‘Disability Unit’.

Remploy is a UK organisation which provides employment placement services for disabled people. It is a major welfare-to-work provider which delivers a range of employment programmes for people with barriers to work.

We designed a programme for disabled participants in 2013-2014 which consisted of three workshops: Self-confidence and communication, Interviewing skills and Developing networks.

We encouraged the participants to understand the importance of their own networks and contacts in obtaining informal information about work opportunities. We did this via individual coaching sessions and also through our group workshops. At the final workshop, we also encouraged those present to see themselves as a ‘micro-network’ of ex-Remploy employees and to value and reference this for the future.

As well as the three workshops, we provided 40+ individual formal coaching sessions for attendees plus additional informal meetings. There was a final networking session at the end of the year.

‘Coaching made me look at things in a different light and consider different situations, for example, practising my signing skills by going to a local deaf centre.’

The Office for Disability Issues and Remploy

Block Colour Classes