Disability

We are committed to creating an environment for members, staff and the public that is as accessible and inclusive as possible and advocating on behalf of people living with disabilities.

This means embedding our focus on disability into every aspect of our culture as a college so that we can fully live out our value of Respect, promote diversity and challenge inequalities.

Supporting members and staff

Some of the actions we are taking in this area include: 

• Making reasonable adjustments wherever possible to remove or reduce any disadvantage for members and staff with a disability.
• RCPsych signed up to the Disability Confident Employer Scheme, which encourages employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We achieved Level 2 status in June 2022.
• Making changes at our head office to greater respect diversity. The recent refurbishment of the London headquarters includes enhanced accessibility, hearing loops for hearing impaired who may be attending on-site events and full wheelchair access.
• In 2022 we carried out an independent Disability Access Audit which highlighted the college was compliant in all areas. This identified 24 areas for improvement which we will complete in 2023.
• A review of accessibility at other UK offices, which resulted in relocating to new premises in the South-West and putting in place arrangements in Edinburgh.
• The College carries out almost 400 events every year, both online and face to face at our own or other venues. We now ask all event attendees if they have any accessibility requirements and do our best to accommodate them wherever possible.
• We provide the ReachDeck/BrowseAloud tool on our website for people with vision or language difficulties, alongside other functions supporting improved website accessibility. 
• We actively encourage members and staff to share data on protected characteristics, including disability, and use this to inform decision making and actions.
• We have Faculties (Neuropsychiatry and Intellectual Disability) and Special Interest Groups (SIGs)/Champions to help improve knowledge and develop policy to promote the wellbeing of people with neurodiverse conditions or disabilities.