With Not For

EMPLOYMENT WITH NOT FOR – THE AGENCY CONNECTING DISABLED EMPLOYEES

With Not For started from a conversation in lockdown – why aren’t companies employing disabled people? Now, they’re helping disabled creatives land jobs, and advocate for themselves.

For many disabled people, work can be incredibly inaccessible. From managers not understanding accommodations, to the job applications themselves, disabled employees can find themselves stuck with inaccessible work or no work at all.

With Not For are the agency that are imagining a future where employers are actively seeking to engage with disabled employees, seeing the merits and creativity this can bring. They have a curated database of Disabled creative talent, from photographers to illustrators, as well as offering disability inclusion content, research workshops and DE&I consultancy.

Disability Review Magazine caught up with Kelly Gordon, co-founder of With Not For, about the company.

Where did the idea for WNF come from?

With Not For was founded from an assortment of lockdown conversations between my co-founder Emma Gardner and me. We would often talk about shared experiences, the difficulties I had in finding work and the way disabled people are often seen to not want to work or have the skills to work! We spoke of friends and colleagues that we would love to add to our roster, as well as potential clients at big ad agencies and corporations that we wanted to collaborate with - we decided that there was no time like the present.

the important stories of disabled people and giving those voices the platform that they deserve.

What are your values as a company?

Our plan was to build a bank of disabled talent, and getting to know people and helping them on their fill the roles within inclusion journey. companies with amazing, proactive, What work are you really excited to do more of super talented, with WNF in the future? disabled people. We have just added some new services at WNF! Research groups which are an online meeting or focus group for brands that want to run an idea/product/ We noticed in lockdown the land- service past the disabled community. scape was shifting slightly and that We have so many fantastic candidates working from home and flexible that login and share their lived working was being not only accepted experience with our clients and but encouraged during and post the give such personal and valuable pandemic. Our plan was to build a knowledge, it is really interesting bank of disabled talent, and fill the to see just how much value our roles within companies with amazing, candidates add and to see the client’s proactive, super talented, disabled perspective change pre and post call. people. We have also added content creation. I particularly enjoy making and writing What have you noticed films and content delving into the root from businesses when of the “disabled experience”, and we trying to approach them are looking for even more brands to about equality? commission our film content, telling When I think about our brand values, I would certainly say that we are here to enhance not only the careers but the lives of our candidates by offering them support to gain access to new careers, advocating for their needs and showcasing their skills to our clients. We also ensure that we have a firm but fair approach with the brands and clients that we work with, giving them honest feedback about their work, language, and attitude towards the disabled community. We believe that our work is important, and we would much rather ensure that our clients are well educated and that their work is valid and not just “ticking a box” than take money for a job that we don’t believe in or that doesn’t fit with our ethos. We will always be that way.

How would you encourage disabled employees to advocate for themselves?

It can be hard to advocate for yourself, especially if you don’t have much prior experience. I think as cliche as it sounds disabled employees should go with their gut. If you think something is unfair or unjust, then do speak up. Oftentimes there is a lack of communication or a miscommunication that can be solved by addressing this directly. If you feel that this is difficult to do then seek help from a friend, family member, colleague or even a company like ours, we are always on hand to support anyone that needs our help.

i

If you would like to find out more information about With Not For, see their website at

withnotfor.co.uk

It has actually been quite refreshing! Obviously, we still have a long way to go when it comes to levelling the playing field but many companies have accepted us with open arms. Something that we are seeing a lot of is that people are wanting to work on projects about disability and 99% of the time they are understanding that to make a project, product, or service for disabled people you really need to ask disabled people. So, we have had a great time (especially as our other clients have been spreading the word)

We would much rather ensure that our clients are well educated and that their work is valid and not just “ticking a box” than take money for a job that we don’t believe in or that doesn’t fit with our ethos. We will always be that way.