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This paper aims to identify common barriers to employment of autistic people and reasonable adjustments that address those barriers; to define autistic strengths and see how the prevailing narrative of autism is affecting employment.

This is a qualitative review of an online consultation amongst a group of 34 autistic adults that took place during April–October 2019. It includes anecdotal accounts and reviews of the themes contained therein.

Key barriers are, namely, deficit narrative of autism; misunderstandings and prejudices amongst senior management and work colleagues; bullying and peer pressure to isolate the autistic employee, leading to anxiety and mental health breakdown in absence of social support; managers making discriminatory choices believing it is the right business decision; the discriminatory nature of provisions, criteria and practices, failing to recognise strengths. Rather than imposing the manner of work, reasonable adjustments should be made to enable the autistic employee to function in his autistic way, achieving results.

Qualitative nature; small self-selecting sample online; functioning and diagnosis not verified, themes derived subjectively.

The need to change the deficit narrative and redefine autistic strengths by autistic people themselves, to legitimise and normalise autistic way of functioning and adjust the managerial provisions, criteria and practices accordingly. Coaching autistic leaders to be the public role models would also help.

Identifying barriers and reasonable adjustments, from the perspective of lived experience. A new framework of assessing autistic competence and suitability for employment is proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of education and training in addressing health inequalities in intellectual disabilities, before examining innovative approaches to healthcare education. Preliminary findings of a simulation training course to support healthcare professionals to work with people with intellectual disability are then presented.

This study employed a mixed methods design to assess the impact of the simulation course. Quantitative data were collected using the Healthcare Skills Questionnaire and a self-report confidence measure; qualitative data were collected using post-course survey with free text responses to open questions.

Healthcare skills and confidence showed statistical improvements from pre- to post-course. Qualitative analyses demonstrated that participants perceived improvements to: attitudes, communication skills, reasonable adjustments, interprofessional and multi-disciplinary working, knowledge of key issues in working with people with intellectual disabilities.

Encouraging findings imply that simulation training to address health inequalities in intellectual disabilities is a valuable resource that merits further development. This training should be rolled out more widely, along with ongoing longitudinal evaluation via robust methods to gauge the impact on participants, their workplaces, and people with intellectual disabilities.

The authors believe this paper to be the first to assess an interprofessional, high-fidelity simulation course, using actors as simulated patients to address the mental and physical health needs of people with intellectual disabilities. The rigorous use of co-production and co-delivery, alongside promising findings for this training method, represent a useful contribution to the literature.

This study addresses a gap in evidence on small employer experiences of managing mental health problems in the workplace. The authors gathered first-hand experiences of small business managers to empirically investigate how the small business context affects the management and support of mental health problems in the workplace, and the practice implications that arise.

Qualitative interviews, combining semi-structured and narrative approaches, with 21 small business managers with experience of managing employees with mental health difficulties. The 21 managers recounted a total of 45 employee cases, which were analysed thematically, using a case-based matrix. Study participants were drawn from small businesses within England and Scotland (UK). Interviews were conducted between November 2019 and February 2020.

Support aligned with current understanding of effective practice, yet was often informal, instinctive and flexible. Accommodating employees with mental health problems impacted the workload of managers and co-workers, and business operation and growth. Challenges and tensions reflected the difficult balancing act faced by managers in organisations of all sizes. However, the intensity and immediacy of cross-pressures was enhanced for small businesses, due to their smaller workforce and lack of dedicated Human Resource Management and occupational health expertise.

Guidance should address the navigation of day-to-day management and support for employees with mental health difficulties, including approaches to balancing the needs of the wider workforce and business operation. Access to HR and occupational health expertise is valuable. Financial subsidies may be of lesser concern to small businesses.

This study offers originality in focusing exclusively on small business managers with first-hand experience of supporting employees with mental health problems. Findings challenge the perception that small firms have unique experiences, whilst highlighting contextual features that exacerbate intensity and immediacy of impacts.

The purpose of this paper is to show how personalisation of learning resources and services can be achieved for students with and without disabilities, particularly responding to the needs of those with multiple disabilities in e‐learning systems. The paper aims to introduce ONTODAPS, the Ontology‐Driven Disability‐Aware Personalised E‐Learning System, which has the mechanism for such personalisation.

This paper reviews current e‐learning systems that provide personalisation for students, including their strengths and weaknesses. The paper presents personalisation and its techniques and then presents ONTODAPS, which personalises learning resources and services to students. In total, three case studies are considered to show how personalisation is achieved using ONTODAPS.

This paper shows that it is possible to use automated ontology‐based agents intercommunicating to provide an effective personalisation for disabled students. The results reveal that ONTODAPS is flexible enough to provide enough control and freedom to drive their learning. The results also suggest that ONTODAPS has the ability to provide appropriate levels of learner control by allowing them to self‐direct learning through personalising learning resources and then allowing them to choose which resources they wish to access. This thus gives them a sense of ownership and control.

This research reveals that it is possible for e‐learning systems to personalise learning for users with multiple disabilities. Thus, by considering the needs of such users and consulting them in the design and development process, developers of e‐learning systems can produce systems that are both accessible and usable by students with disabilities.

The inclusion of multiple formats of learning resources and personalisation of their presentation to students means students will have increased access to such resources, with the potential of consuming and assimilating the information. This also has the potential of improving understanding and hence and improvement in results.

This research shows that ONTODAPS is a medium where disabled students can have equivalent learning experience with their non‐disabled peers. This could potentially increase access to learning for disabled students and possibly help improve their results due to an increase in accessibility of learning resources and usability of the system. This system thus complies with contemporary legislation which requires “reasonable adjustments” or “reasonable accommodations” to be made to meet the needs of disabled people.

Although personalisation has been applied in e‐commerce systems, making them very successful, such personalisation is still a wish for e‐learning systems which struggle to catch up. This research proposes a solution in the e‐learning domain and its novelty is in its application to disabled students, including those with multiple disabilities.

Audit negotiations are impacted by many factors. This study aims to investigate how two such factors, communication of the National Office Accounting Consultation Unit (ACU) and the auditor’s approach, affect chief financial officers’ (CFOs’) willingness to adjust the financial statements and satisfaction with the auditor.

This study uses a 2 × 3 between-subjects experimental design. Participants are 169 highly experienced CFOs and financial officers. The experimental design crosses the two multi-dimensional auditor approaches found in the literature with two influence tactics used to communicate ACU involvement, as well as a control condition, with no communication of the ACU involvement.

Communicating the ACU’s involvement as a higher authority (similar to a boss) results in greater willingness to record an adjustment to the financial statements when auditors use a hands-off “compliance-officer” auditor approach, but lower willingness by CFOs to adjust the financial statements when auditors use an expert-advisor auditor approach as compared to when coalition tactics are used. Results also show that communicating the ACU as a higher authority negatively impacts a CFO’s satisfaction with the audit partner. Overall, these results highlight the importance of the auditor’s approach and communication of ACU involvement within the auditor–client relationship. The outcomes of this study are limited to situations where unexpected audit adjustments are found during the year-end process and thus cannot be discussed pre-emptively with clients.

This paper advances the understanding of how the multi-dimensional auditor’s approach can shape and limit the effectiveness of influence tactics. These factors are important, as auditors are tasked with maintaining not only quality audits but also client relationships. However, although rich in detail, factors other than auditor approach may have inadvertently been manipulated and are driving results.

The approach taken by the auditor with a client throughout the audit sets the stage during the auditor–client negotiations. Therefore, audit partners must consider their own approach with the client before communicating the ACU’s involvement as the auditor approach shapes and limits the tactics available for use. Using ill-suited tactics may undermine the client’s willingness to record an adjustment to the financial statements and cause undue harm to the auditor–client relationship.

This paper uses highly experienced CFOs and financial officers to examine how two common elements in the audit negotiation context can significantly affect the outcome to the financial statements and the relationship between the client and audit partner.

Providing accessible and inclusive environments fulfils legislative obligations and creates financial benefits. Historic-listed buildings rely on heritage tourism for continued financial support. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how historic-listed buildings adapt to afford access to people with disabilities (PwD), through physical and non-physical interventions.

Using a case study approach of an historic property, research comprises of: an observational visitor survey, determining visitor demographic regarding visible disabilities; an access audit, determining current accessibility; interviews with the property’s Access Team; and desktop-based research.

The results depict the complexity, challenges and barriers in making historic buildings accessible for PwD. Through alternative training and inclusive initiatives, the findings reveal how historic buildings may support the multiplicity of individuals’ access requirements.

Further research incorporating longer surveying periods, wider demographic of interviewees and multiple case study analysis would provide richer, comparable data in understanding the intrinsic complexities involved in creating accessibility within historic buildings. The implications of this research could transcend management, conservation and adaptation of listed buildings in identifying the defined barriers and solutions to overcome them.

The originality of this paper relates to the use of alternative services creating access when physical changes are deemed “unreasonable”. A conceptual framework is developed depicting the complexity, challenges and barriers in making historic buildings accessible for PwD.

Based on data drawn from ten cohorts of students successfully completing a first degree, this paper examines Government higher education (HE) policy and changes in its effects in practice over a period of ten years until 2008. In 1998, Government policy on HE was set to make HE more inclusive of previously under‐represented groups. These groups included students from semi‐skilled or unskilled family backgrounds and from socially deprived localities. By the year 2010, a target was set to have 50 per cent of 18‐30 year‐old individuals experiencing HE. Educational standards were to be maintained. Another identified under‐represented group was students with disabilities. This paper addresses the relationship between HE policy and its effects in practice in relation to both groups. Changes in the numbers and the first degree results of cohorts of successful male and female students with and without disabilities were analysed annually between the years 1998/99 (Cohort 1) and 2007/8 (Cohort 10). The numbers and the first degree results of successful disabled (nine categories of disability) and non‐disabled male and female students were analysed. To date, results from an overall total of 2,588,792 successful students have been examined. A Government announcement in the autumn of 2009 limited access to first degree courses. Has a metaphorical “end of the line” towards greater inclusion in HE been reached?

The growth of the Internet and Web offers opportunities to both organisations and individuals. Some of this opportunity is lost to both though if Web site content is not accessible. To date this fact has received little attention. However, as the market matures and legal parameters surrounding discrimination become clearer, the topic of accessibility will take on increasing significance. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to those assessments of Web content accessibility already undertaken, as well as to spread the accessibility word to a wider audience. The study looked at the accessibility of UK‐based accountancy sites utilising the evaluation software Bobby. It found that the accessibility of UK‐based accountancy firms to be relatively poor in comparison to other (mostly US and university and library) surveys.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “Intellectual disability in Switzerland: the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as a vehicle for progress”.

This commentary highlights the importance of including people with intellectual disabilities in human rights reporting. The commentary builds on available data from academic research as well as civil society reports.

Three main aspects are presented: the lack of involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in human rights reporting, the barriers to their participation in developing and publishing human rights reports and possible strategies to tackle those barriers.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (CRPD) makes it mandatory to include people with intellectual disabilities in policy-making as well as in monitoring the CRPD. Academics need to change their practice to include people with intellectual disabilities in human rights research.

Identifying the different user needs and capabilities of individuals online, the aim of this research is to highlight the importance of “web content accessibility” in effective online communication. In particular, identifying the statistical size of disabled and “challenged” individuals in the marketplace, the paper identifies a competitive mandate for considering online accessibility. In addition, a developing legal mandate, based on the idea that access to information also involves access to opportunity and participation, is set out. Having identified the importance of the accessibility issue, the second aim of the research is to provide an assessment of current levels of online accessibility, as well as to compare these with the limited published research in this area.

Following previous accessibility research, the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines”, produced by the “Web Accessibility Initiative”, are adopted as the de facto standards for accessibility. Against these standards, a sample of UK hotel web pages was then assessed utilising the software assessment tool, “Bobby”. Given the limitations of the Bobby software to assess web sites against all the de facto standards, additional manual checks were also made.

The hotel web sites revealed very poor levels of accessibility in both absolute and relative terms. Examining the data collected manually revealed that the poor level of accessibility is likely to result from a lack of awareness of the critical issues and techniques required for providing access. If organisations want to maximise their online reach, then an outside‐in, user‐centred approach is therefore necessary.

Provides a framework as to how organisations might usefully implement a web content accessibility strategy.

Enables web authors to evaluate their content from an accessibility perspective.