-
Blog Views
799
The Story Behind Patchwork Hub
Never, in the months leading up to Patchwork Hub’s first post, could I have imagined that our first post would be published in this context… When I’ve been pitching our social enterprise at competitions in recent months, at meetings and at events, I normally start by highlighting that our model of work is broken. I argue that just because a person’s circumstances remove them from the workplace and from being able to work in a conventional workplace, that person does not lose their skillset, determination or desire to contribute and earn money. I talk about how current efforts are based around trying to fit people into the workplace rather than creating a workspace that fits these individuals.
With COVID-19, businesses are rapidly improving their implementation of flexible or “working from home” policies. I hope that the one positive that might come from all this is an acknowledgment that flexible and remote working works. Such a realisation can help bring back into the workforce a currently invisible talent pool.
How we started
I had a clear career path laid out in front of me. I had graduated from Oxford University with First Class Honours and had just run a summer school access programme to bring students from “disadvantaged” backgrounds to university, the very same access summer school that I had attended, aged 17. I had received a full Kennedy Scholarship for postgraduate study at Harvard and from the outside looked all set to be whatever I wanted to be, wherever I wanted to be it.
Yet, my chronic health conditions changed how I could work. Despite great efforts and sacrifices, I could not sustainably work a conventional 9 to 5 office job. Despite the privileged networks I was now apart of, I could not find an easy way to work flexibly around my health. Despite workplaces making efforts to become more inclusive, current efforts were all based around trying to fit people into the workplace rather than creating a workspace that fits the individual. This made me think, what if I created a business which does exactly that? Create the workspace around the person.
The moment when this personal idea coalesced into a driving motivation was during an ME/CFS advocacy meeting in the United States Congress. I sat around the table in Senators’ offices hearing stories of high-achieving and highly skilled individuals who had been forced to stop work because of their illness. Globally, there are millions missing from the labour market, as there is no accessible or sustainable way for these people to find or continue in work even though they may be physically/mentally able to do so. A person may be housebound and only able to work a few hours a day, but oh boy, can they be productive and dedicated in those hours! It often surprises people to learn that the disabled self-employed’s skillset is specialised in the three most highly skilled occupational categories. This is not to mention the untapped potential of those who have not been able to continue working or skilling themselves because there was no accessible way for them to do so.
I began thinking about the potential of creating a fully accessible platform through which users could connect with employers, training and support, facilitating a different way of working. Creating a one-stop shop for somebody unable to work a conventional job to connect with opportunities which would suit them and allow them to live and work sustainably. Creating a one-stop shop for businesses to improve their inclusion through finding talent and connecting with training and support.
The more I began working on this founding idea, the more convinced I became of its potential. I came back to the UK and have been working non-stop ever since. The chronic illness community holds some of the most inspiring and hardworking people I’ve ever met and given the opportunity, I know they will be assets to the clients they work for. In light of the growth of remote working and task-based jobs, I feel strongly that a socially responsible and inclusive business should be one of the first to market and I am determined that ‘disabled’ people are integrated into the future model of work, front and centre of the change, rather than a separate category added on at the end (as is usually the case!)
There is no reason why a social enterprise, which contributes the majority of its profits to its social mission, should not also be a scalable tech startup and market leader but there are many reasons why it isn’t often done. The barriers to entry are that much higher for disabled-led enterprises but I truly believe that a shift is beginning to happen. Now is the moment for Patchwork Hub.
Tags
All Tags
Ability Connect Academy for Disabled Journalists Academy for Disabled SEO Specialists Access2Funding Accessibility Accessibility information Accessibility int he workplace Accessibility ramps Accessible education Accessible locations Accessible places Acid reflux Adaptive fashion Advocacy AI Aleto Foundation All Saints Alt text Aspiring Entrepreneurs with Disability Development Programme Assistive technology Autism Awareness Barriers Beth Kume-Holland Blog Budgeting Bullying BUPA Burnout Business Business Disability Forum Business model creation Business skills Business workshop Businesses Cancer Candidates Captions Cash flow Cerebral palsy Characters Charity Charity sector Chronic pain Closed captions Clothes Clothing Cognitive disabilities Comfort zone Communication Community networks Companies Company Company Corner Company culture Confidence Confucius Consultant Consultation Content creator Content designer Data talent Diagnosis Difference Digital and social media marketing Digital transformation Disabilities Disability advocate Disability advocates Disability and Neurodiversity Network Disability awareness Disability Awareness Training Disability community Disability confident Disability Confident Leader Disability employment Disability inclusion Disability news Disability Policy Centre Disability Pride Disabled Disabled candidates Disabled community Disabled founders Disabled people Disabled People’s Direct Action Network Disabled talent Disabled team Disabled-led Diverse Diverse workforce Diversity Diversity and inclusion Diversity Project Diversity Recruitment Platform Domestic violence Dysfluency ED&I EDDP Education Education and resource platform Employment opportunities Employment platform Empowerment Equality Act 2010 Ethnic minorities Eventbrite Expert teachers Expert training Fashion Fashion industry Fathom Feedback Finances Financial goals Financial planning Financial plans Financial services Financial services sector Flexible work Freelance FTSE 100 Fund management GAIN Game Gaming Gareth Walkom Garment technologist Gastrointestinal conditions Gem Turner Gender Gender Networks Grant Logan Guide dog Healthcare Hidden talent pool Homeworking Hospice UK Compassionate Employers Programme HR Hybrid working Ian MacKenzie Inclusion Inclusive culture Inclusive workforce Inclusivity India Inspiration Intellectual capabilities Interview process Interviews Investments Invisible disabilities Invisible disability Isaac Harvey Isaac Harvey MBE Istituto Marangoni Jack Wills Job descriptions Job interviews Job opportunities Job vacancies Journalism Journalists Learning disability Leeds Leeds trinity university Legislation LGBT Great LGBTQ+ Limb-pelvic hypoplasia LinkedIn LinkedIn influencer Listening service Lloyds Bank London London Fashion Week Long-term health condition Long-term health conditions Mapping days Mark Esho Matt Pierri Maya angelou Meta Metaverse Migrants Motivation Multinational firm Musculoskeletal conditions National Council for the Training of Journalists NCTJ Neurodivergence Neurodivergent Neurodiverse Neurodiversity consultant Neurodiversity space Neurotype Neurotypes New Delhi News Non-disabled founders Non-profit Novos OBS Occupational health Office environment Organisations Partially sighted Partnership Patchworkers People Phase Eight Phone calls Physical disabilities Pirate video games Policy Poverty Presentations Pride Network Primark Processes and systems Professional Women’s Network Progress Together Public speaking Puneet Singh Singhal Race Race and Ethnicity Network Raising awareness Registered blind Remote course Remote education Remote learning Remote work Removing barriers Resilience Revenue streams Rights School Scoliosis Scope Search engine optimisation Selection process Self-employed Self-employment Senior staff Sexuality Shaw trust Shaw trust power 100 list Sign language SJP Small Business Britain Social impact Social mission Social mobility Social-emotional learning Social-emotional learning platform Software Speaking situation Speech differences Speech disabilities Speech impediment Spotlight series Spotlight stories Ssstart St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation Staff Stammer Stammering Stonewall Stories Stuttering Sustainable change Sweaty Betty Target market Tech industry Tech talent TEDx Tesco Think tank Training Underrepresentation Unhidden Unhidden Clothing Universities University of Leicester Vanessa Castañeda Gill Victoria Beckham Video editor Video game Vimeo Violence Virtual reality VR Wealth management Web accessibility Wheels and Wheelchairs Women Work environment Work from home Working conditions Working Families Group Working from home Workplace adjustments Youth Zoom Abc Ability Today Access to work Accessibility in the workplace Accessibility test Accessible work Acting Adhd Adjustments Administrative Adrian lord Advice Advocacy and campaigns Allparty parliamentary group for inclusive entrepreneurship American civil rights movement Android Anglonorman App Artificial intelligence Bad grammar Barriers to work Bbc Benefits Blind persons act Blue badge Blue badge service specialists Care Career Carer Celtic languages Center on everyday lives of families Ceo Cfs Chloe tear Chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic health condition Chronic illness Commodo aute beatae Community Community story Community, community story, founder, feature, accessible work, disability employment gap, making a difference Companies house Compressed hours Computer science Computers Coronavirus Councils Covid19 Crystal mark standard Deaf Design Dialects Dictionary Digital accessibility Disability Disability discrimination act Disability employment gap Disability rights movement Disability services Disabled peoples direct action network Disabled persons employment act Disabled-led organisation Easy read Edit Tag Test 2 Email address Employer Spotlight Employers Employment English English speakers Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Epilepsy Equality Equality act Equality and diversity Equality of access Esources, disability, disability services, support services, community story, features, adjustments, social support network Esse vero eum nisi a Eugenics Facebook Feature Features Fibromyalgia First world war Flexi Flexible working Flexitime Flextime Founder Francesco cirillo Freelancing French Gcses Gdpr General data protection regulation Good Good grammar Google Government policy Government support Graduate Graduates Grammar Grammar schools Health Health condition Health conditions Hearing impairment Help And Support Tags History History of language Holistic Ico Impact Imposter syndrome Inclusive entrepreneur network Inequalities Inequality Information commissioners office Information governance Instagram Internet Jacqueline winstanley Laborum Magna moles Language Latin Law Learning difficulties Lexicographers Limited company Local councils Local government Making a difference Marketing strategy Mecfs Medical conditions Medical model of disability Medical vs social models of disability Medicines Mental health Middle english Mindfulness Mlm Mobility issues Molestias quod sapie Multilevel marketing Nam eaque iure aut v National league of the blind Neurodiversity Nihil corporis aliqu Niya Normans Old english Old french Onboarding and retention Online Out of work Oxbridge Parent Passwords Patchwork hub Payment details Planning Planning for work Podcasts Pomodoro Preposition Private schools Psychiatric Psychiatry Punctuation Qui voluptatem debi React Reasonable adjustments Recruitment Remote working Resources Resources and support Rest Retinopathy of prematurity Sales Scam Search engine Second world war Shell shock Slang Sociability Social Cipher Social interactions Social media Social model of disability Social support network Socialising Spelling Spoken language Spotlight series Spotlight stories St. James’s Place Standard english Startup State schools Student Students Studying Suffragette movement Support Support services Syntactician Syntax Tag Technology The Disability Policy Centre The elderly Then barbara met alan Trafalgar square Turkish United nations Universal inclusion University University of arts london University of cambridge University of hertfordshire University of hull University of leeds University of oxford Victoria Jenkins Visual impairment War Ways of working West germanic dialects William shakespeare Windsor consultations WithVR Wordpress Work structure Workforce recruitment Working environment Workplace barriers World war one World war two Young carer
