PDA Ability Network launches ‘Standing up for Sitting Down’ campaign against disability discrimination

The association urges employers to make appropriate reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and health conditions

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) Ability Network on Thursday launched a campaign to combat disability discrimination in the workplace.

Called ‘Standing Up for Sitting Down’, the campaign was created after the network members shared their difficulties in persuading their employer to allow them to sit down at work despite having physical health problems.

Encompassing both mental and physical disabilities, the campaign highlights the level of discrimination and abuse that PDA members with disabilities face at work.

One member shared, “I needed to sit down and check as my feet hurt a lot. But the manager would not allow this and took the chair away.” Another recounted, “I was called a lazy cow by the dispenser for sitting to check prescriptions.”

The PDA Ability Network is encouraging its members to exercise their rights by calling on employers to make appropriate reasonable adjustments. Additionally, the network is aiming to create a zero-tolerance culture towards discrimination.

A recent PDA Ability Network survey on disability discrimination revealed that 52 per cent of respondents reported experiencing discrimination at work, and 40 per cent said they felt excluded from the workforce, underemployed, or unemployed due to their disability.

“It is unacceptable that highly skilled pharmacists are unable to work due to disability discrimination,” the association noted.

The ‘Standing up for Sitting Down’ campaign outlines three key actions:

• Ensuring members understand and assert their rights under the Equality Act as pharmacists, trainee pharmacists, or students with disabilities.
• Urging employers to make and regularly review reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and health conditions.
• Encouraging employers to collaborate with PDA representatives and active members to create a compassionate culture of dignity in the workplace where there is zero tolerance for discrimination.