‘Standing Up for Sitting Down’ was created after PDA Ability Network members shared their difficulties in persuading their employer to allow them to sit down at work despite having physical health problems which meant they needed to.
One member said, “I needed to sit down and check as my feet hurt a lot. But the manager would not allow this and took the chair away.” Another member said, “I was called a lazy cow by the dispenser for sitting to check prescriptions.”
This campaign is broader than physical health problems and encompasses all disabilities whether mental or physical. It demonstrates the level of discrimination and abuse that PDA members with disabilities face at work.
In the PDA Ability Networks’ recent disability discrimination survey, 52% of respondents said that they had experienced disability discrimination at work. In addition, 40% of respondents said they felt that they had been excluded from the workforce, underemployed, or unemployed due to their disability.
It is unacceptable that highly skilled pharmacists are unable to work due to disability discrimination. The ‘Standing up for Sitting Down’ campaign has three asks:
- Ask members to ensure they understand their rights under the Equality Act as a pharmacist, trainee pharmacist, or a student with disabilities and assert these rights.
- Call on employers to make appropriate and ongoing reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and health conditions, which are regularly reviewed.
- Encourage and support employers to work together with PDA Reps and active members to create a compassionate culture of dignity in the workplace where there is zero tolerance for discrimination.
Get involved
- If you would like to get more involved in this campaign or any other activities of the network, please email ability@the-pda.org.
- Join the PDA Ability Network here.
- Follow the PDA Ability Network on social media using the hashtag #PDAability
Learn more
- PDA Ability Network releases initial findings from the disability discrimination survey
- PDA Ability Network launches disability discrimination survey
- ‘It’s Time’ campaign series
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.