Creating an Equal Future for All

Scope is a charity on a mission to help achieve true equality for the millions of disabled people living in the UK, working tirelessly to break down the barriers they face in everyday life and change perspectives.

Inspired by East London’s Paralympic legacy, Scope joined Here East in 2018, choosing our collaborative campus as the home for its London office. We sat down with Scope to hear more about their mission and how being part of our connected ecosystem benefits their work creating a more equal and inclusive future for all.

What challenges and barriers do disabled people face in the tech and creative industries?

Scope: “Like many areas of life, one of the biggest issues is ensuring disabled people's voices are heard at every level in the tech and creative industries.

“This means companies employing and retaining disabled people. It means making products and services accessible to all. And it means representing disabled people at every step of the process – from inclusive data input into AI and machine learning to disabled models in TV adverts.

“At Scope, we work with organisations to make sure they are accessible and that everyone can access the tech and digital services they need.”

How is Scope’s work helping to tackle these challenges?

Scope: “It’s often about changing culture and perspectives on disability and the talents of disabled employees. At Scope, we help with digital and content accessibility as well as creating an inclusive workplace culture. We also offer training, audits and access to research with over 3,000 disabled consumers.

“Companies need to take a close look at how they hire, develop, and retain their disabled colleagues. Many organisations have a lot more work to do, but Scope can work with them at every step on their journey to becoming a more inclusive employer.”

How does being located at Here East benefit Scope’s mission and work?

Scope: “As a disability charity, being part of an open and accessible campus was a must for us. Finding somewhere that is open to everyone is not as common as you might think – even in London.

“On top of that, Here East attracts policymakers and industry leaders – precisely the groups that we need to work with to create an equal future for disabled people.”

How is Scope harnessing Here East’s ecosystem of innovation, technology and collaboration to achieve equality for disabled people?

Scope: “We’re exploring how we can use our accessible office space to host disabled people, tech companies, and university teams to look into developing low-cost assistive and accessible tech using 3D printing. Here East has organisations in the 3D printing space on campus and we plan to host them for ‘hackathon days’ in our office.

“In the future, we hope to host more events like the coffee morning we hosted earlier this year on campus, for our neighbours at Plexal and Here East to learn more about our cause and explore opportunities to volunteer with us.”

How do you hope to see inclusivity and accessibility for disabled people in London evolving in the future?

Scope: “Currently, the disability employment gap – the rate of employment of disabled people compared to the public – hovers at just under 28%. This has barely changed in decades, but we’re working to close it. We need to see more employers recruiting disabled people throughout the capital and beyond.

“This goes hand in hand with changing people’s attitudes towards disabled people. In the UK, 1 in 4 of us are disabled, and an inclusive workplace makes a huge difference.

“Moreover, the cost of living is an important topic for all of us, but disabled people face an even greater challenge. Disabled households need on average an additional £975 per month just to have an equal standard of living.

“There is a long way to go, but we’re committed to ending disability inequality through our work, and these are just some of the things we’re hoping to change in order to create an equal future for disabled people.”

To learn more about Scope, visit https://www.scope.org.uk/