Antonia Gigglberger - Documentary Photographer

freedom beyond my wheels

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Freedom Beyond My Wheels

"I use public transport for when I go to work, my activities or to meet with friends. I would say that I have an active lifestyle. In my leisure time I enjoy going to the gym, to the cinema as well as trips out to central London’, says 30-year-old Bradley, who is volunteering for two different charities as well as having a part-time paid position for another charity."

I accompanied Bradley throughout his daily life, as well as to a job interview.

"Even though I like my lifestyle, I’d rather be paid full time than being on benefits. I have been having multiple job interviews over the last decade and none of them have been successful. Even though I have been working on the job applications and cover letters independently all by myself, which have been well written as I have been getting job interviews for my hard work on the applications, I still unfortunately have been unsuccessful."

"In one of my voluntary jobs, I assist clients with their smartphones and other tech like laptops, which does feel really rewarding when I can help them with their issues. I would like to have a paid job in customer service in assisting customers with their technical equipment."

"When applying for jobs, I don’t usually write on my application that I have a disability, as I feel this would be a disadvantage to the employer, so when I go to the interview, they can see that I have a disability, but I make it very clear that I can do all the required tasks with my walking stick, as well as the wheelchair, if they would allow it."

"But unfortunately I don’t always hear back after filling out the application.
Once, I had an interview, I phoned up aweek after to ask if they had a vision yet as I do get concerned when I don’t hear back for a while, although sometimes that may come across too desperate.
Thankfully, that time I phoned up, I have been advised politely that the manager hasn’t had a chance to look through the interviews yet as the store has been quite busy. Later on, I then got an unsuccessful email saying that I didn’t get through to the next application stage."

Freedom Beyond My Wheels 2022-23

The right to work and employment is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). In the UK, the Equality Act protects you from discrimination when you apply for work, when you're in a job, and when you leave it. It is a case of direct discrimination, if an employer decides not to appoint a disabled person even though he’s the best candidate, because they assume, for instance, that he will need a lot of time off sick.

In the UK there were 10.21 million people of working age who reported that they were disabled in October to December 2023, which is 24% of the working-age population. The unemployment rate for disabled people was 5.6%, which compared with a rate of 3.6% for people who are not disabled.

People with disabilities still remain among the most disadvantaged groups as regards employment, despite a slight fall in the unemployment rate compared to the years before. The ‘disability employment gap’ is the difference in the employment rate of disabled people and people who are not disabled. In the last quarter of 2023, the gap was 27.9%. The gap has remained at a similar level since 2019. There are several reasons for this gap – chief among them the lack of provision of reasonable accommodation, the structural discrimination and bias suffered by persons with disabilities, and the lack of access to inclusive and quality education.