Enjoyed the Paralympics? Keep the spirit alive at work

Did you enjoy the Paralympics? We did too. Loved it, in fact. There’s nothing quite like it, is there? The thrills and spills, the drama, the back stories. 

It’s easy to get emotionally invested and, as we showed in our campaign for The National Lottery, everyone who buys a lottery ticket is financially invested, too, helping fund our Paralympians.

So, as we cheered the team on as a nation, we could all feel we’ve played our part in its success. And what success! Second in the medal table. But now, sadly, the confetti has settled on another entertainingly eccentric closing ceremony, the torch has been passed on to Los Angeles, and it’s all over for another four years. Or is it?

We think not. And we think, this time, we can all get closer to the action. We can take part, right here in adland.

This is going to sound cheesy, so forgive the fromage, but we think we can all carry a bit of that flame forward and keep that spirit alive. Because there are, of course, disabled people all around us.

When it comes to our industry, they need Paralympic levels of determination and resilience just to get in, get on or get good. And they do it without the Paralympic fanfare, fans or fuss. So imagine what they could do with a little bit more support.

It’s a lot easier to help than you might think. All you have to do is ask. And it starts with a very simple question. Ask “Do you have any accessibility requirements?”

Ask everyone who is coming into your office, whether clients or colleagues, new or existing. Yes, you might be worried about what you’ll do if they say yes. But you and your team will figure it out, and it’s far better to know in advance. Whether people have accessibility requirements or not, they’ll think better of you.  

Asking it is the latest action from the industry’s "All in" plan. Let’s make it as normal as asking people whether they have any dietary requirements.

Keep the conversation going with mentoring

We met on Leo Burnett UK’s mentoring programme, run in partnership with The Media Trust, that helps disabled talent arrive and thrive in adland. 

The barriers Helena faced were intimidating: from punitive benefits systems, to a lack of suitable housing in big cities, inaccessible transport and the office environment itself. 

Our conversations have been a brilliant two-way street, where we can candidly discuss the unique challenges a disabled person can face.

Even better, Helena landed a paid role here at Leo's. We both struggle to see how we’d have got that result in other circumstances, so we’d encourage everyone to get involved in a mentoring conversation.

Invite everyone into the conversation

Getting the job is just the start. As research by the APG for its Arrive and Thrive initiative shows, arriving in adland is one thing, thriving is another. This is an industry based on male, white and able codes and conventions that can be bewildering to others.

So at Leo’s, we’re embarking on a whole agency programme of training and conversation about what people need to perform at their best, tackling accessibility and beyond.

Today, many in the industry don’t feel comfortable disclosing their conditions or requirements, for understandable fear of discrimination.

Conversations can change that, showing that this is an industry where we just want to unleash people’s full potential. Because then, of course, everyone wins.

So start a conversation today. Ask someone if they have any accessibility requirements. If they do, keep the conversation going.  

You’ll be surprised by the wins you’ll help make happen. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get yourself some of that Paralympic buzz.

And, maybe, we’ll all be surprised how fast our industry can reach a whole new gold standard.

Josh Bullmore is chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett UK and the government’s disability and access ambassador for the advertising sector. Helena Banks is a junior planner at Leo Burnett UK