International Day of Persons with Disabilities

At Portico, we continuously strive to create an inclusive environment to truly make the lives for both our employees and our customers a better one. That’s why on the 3rd of December we will be celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD), a day which promotes equality for people with disabilities in all areas of society.

Since 1992, IDPWD have celebrated on the 3^rd December to stop all ignorance for the 15% of the world population living with a disability.

This year, we have asked our Portico people to get involved, by taking part in activities whilst welcoming our people back into the workspace to raise money and awareness for IDPWD. Our Disability awareness ambassadors are also going above and beyond this year. They will be running workshops to celebrate the day, as well as touch base on important topics around the importance of inclusion. Our disability ambassadors helps us create inclusive environments and educate our people to champion disability awareness and support.

More about how Portico creates a Disability Smart Workplace:

In 2019, Portico became the first Front of House Service company to become members of the Business Disability Forum, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide better opportunities for disabled customers and employees. Since joining the organisation, we have continued to change the way we run our business by ensuring ‘disability smart’ environments and workspaces. We also have the ability to widen our pool of candidates, reaching a more diverse group of talented people, and more importantly since the pandemic, had access to BDF’s knowledge hub and guides to help our Portico people manage the challenges which face Front of House industries and people with disabilities during COVID-19.

It is by no means a surprise that COVID-19 has impacted how we are able to interact with our people and customers. Social distancing rules, face masks, touchless surfaces along with mental health issues, means everyone at Portico has had to go the extra mile to support people with disabilities. To do so correctly, we direct our people to BDF’s webinars and Toolkits. We have also created our own Disability awareness training courses. These courses are available to all our staff members and compulsory for our location leadership teams.

Despite the challenges COVID-19 has caused our industry, we at Portico will continue to strive for a truly inclusive place of work for both our employee and our customers!

Spotlight on our Disability Awareness Ambassadors:

Ian Friel

For Ian, disability awareness is a cause very close to his heart. Having both autism and paranoid schizophrenia, Ian has had to deal with many biases his disability (consciously and unconsciously) brings. Before his time with Portico, Ian helped young adults with learning difficulties find employment. It was his experience working with people with learning disabilities which made Ian strive to make a challenge on how society views people with disabilities. Since joining Portico, Ian has developed with the company and now manages disability awareness workshops.

Estella Noble

Estella’s passion for championing awareness around disability inclusion evolved from her first-hand experience working within a previous highly stressful environment and dealing with personal family matters. At the peak of her anxiety, Estella was able to master the tools available to navigate her through her challenges. Since gaining this experience, Estella she shares tools and support to other’s who are on a challenging journey.

"Treat me as I want to be treated, not how you think I want to be treated"

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