Careers advisers can make a real difference for disabled and neurodivergent clients by rethinking how they run their sessions, according to Roxanne (Rox) Steel, Fractional Head of Training and Consultancy at Evenbreak, the not-for-profit specialist job board run by disabled people for disabled people. Speaking to the CDI, Rox drew on professional insight and lived experience as a disabled and neurodivergent person.

Official figures underline the scale of the challenge. Just over half (52.8%) of working-age disabled people in the UK are in work, compared with 82.5% of non-disabled people, according to the latest Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics. For people whose main health condition is autism, the employment rate falls to 31.4%, and disabled young people are more than three times as likely as their non-disabled peers to be not in education, employment or training (NEET). 

“Be comfortable guiding in spaces where you’re more comfortable asking questions than having the answers,” said Rox. Her tips range from auditing the space where sessions take place and offering more than one way for clients to engage, to rethinking the language used around disability and supporting clients to look beyond their first job.

A two-page set of practitioner takeaways from the interview is now available, with 10 tips, each with a simple “Try this” action.

Read more: find the Neuroinclusive Career Guidance Takeaways in the CDI resources section.