2.2 About this project
We were commissioned by ACEVO to help it understand how it could become more disability inclusive as an organisation. We also looked at what ACEVO could do to support disabled leaders, and the organisation’s potential role in supporting wider civil society to be more disability inclusive.
What do we need to do to empower people to call out inaccessibility?
The organisation had already identified the lack of disabled leaders within its membership, staff team and board, and a desire to understand what the issues facing disabled leaders are.
It became very clear to us that to understand the issues we needed to talk to ACEVO staff and trustees, ACEVO members and disabled CEOs – both members and non-members of ACEVO.
Originally as part of the research we had anticipated also providing an anonymous survey, due to the known issues around disability disclosure in employment. However, world events meant that we were aware of both survey fatigue, and the very real trauma marginalised people are living with in the wake of both COVID-19 and recent murders of Black people in the US.
The purpose of this research is to provide ACEVO with a roadmap of how to become a disability inclusive organisation and a leading ally within civil society for disabled leaders. We also hope that this report will support a wider conversation about disability leadership in civil society and be the significant moment in recognising the existence and contribution that disabled leaders make to the sector.
This report has 3 sections:
- Emerging issues
- Taking action
- Recommendations for ACEVO
This document is also supported by a literature review exploring disability leadership in the voluntary and other sectors available here.
