In the early 1990’s I was working for a private provider offering residential and nursing care for older people. I had been working for the company as a supervisor for some time, and had applied for the position of Deputy Manager in the residential home I was working in. The interview felt very positive and I was told that I would receive a phone call that evening informing me of the outcome, but the call didn’t materialise. I waited for a week and still no contact from the panel chair. Part way through the next week I received a call informing me that I had been unsuccessful. A few days later it became apparent that the person who was offered the position hadn’t been part of the interview day and hadn’t applied for the position. The Managing Director of the organisation requested to see me, and I met him at Head Office. He started to give feedback, and I said that I felt I was unsuccessful due to my sexuality. He replied by saying that I was viewed as a bit of a “campaigner” and that my conclusion was correct. “My colleague is rather old fashioned” he said, referring to the individual who interviewed me. I sat there feeling totally powerless, there was just the two of us in his large office, meaning that if I said anything it would be my word against his and I would have no chance of being believed. This has been a pattern that has followed me throughout my career.
Fast forward to the 2010’s. I was having trouble with the sight in my right eye and was diagnosed as having a cataract. This was problematic for me as I had no sight in my left eye following a macular detachment in 1986. The waiting list for treatment on the NHS was long, and I didn’t want to be away from work for a long period, so I chose to have private treatment. The surgeon said that he would not only be able to fix my cataract, but he could also effectively cure my astigmatism, it turned out he was the only person in the country who could do this, and he could do both in a procedure that would take less than 15 minutes. I readily agreed but discovered post procedure that this treatment had turned me from being shortsighted to longsighted in a matter of minutes. I could see nothing in front of my nose, but my distance vision was close to perfect. This was a major change, but it meant until my eye settled post surgery I could not have a sight test so new glasses were a way off, delaying my return to work. My manager was unhappy with this, as people usually return to work less than a week after treatment, but my situation was more complex. I was referred to Occupational Health and the subsequent report was brief “Andy will return to work when he can see” is pretty much all it said, resulting in further workplace angst. It took a few weeks before I returned to work, I needed to allow the eye to settle, have a sight test, and then have a new prescription for new glasses. Once all this was in place I was able to return to work, but my treatment through this episode revealed a lack of understanding of disability and I was treated unfairly as a result.
These personal experiences aren't isolated incidents. They reflect broader patterns that many face daily across different aspects of society. What connects them is the fundamental misunderstanding about equality that we are seeing presented by many political and social leaders just now. When people advocate for equality—whether related to sexuality, disability, race, gender, or other characteristics—they aren't seeking special privileges. They're simply asking for the removal of barriers that prevent them from competing on equal terms. The obstacles I faced weren't visible walls with "No Gay People" or "No Disabled People" signs. Instead, they were embedded in attitudes, policies, and systems that appeared neutral on the surface but created very different outcomes depending on who you were. These structural barriers exist across our society, creating different starting lines for different people while maintaining the fiction that we're all racing from the same position.
You can imagine, therefore, how upset I was to read an interview on the BBC website with Nigel Farage on the 27th March 2025. The piece was written by Alex Forsyth and Joshua Nevett and Farage is quoted as saying “The idea that you give certain groups privileges not based on merit but based on skin colour or sexuality or whatever is wrong, it doesn't work." I have to ask, what special privileges was I seeking in the two examples I offer above?
When we look beyond individual experiences, we can identify specific structural barriers that create uneven starting points for many people:
In education, students with disabilities often face physical environments not designed for their needs. Schools without proper accessibility features, learning materials not available in alternative formats, or standardised testing that doesn't accommodate different learning styles all create barriers before the race even begins. I remember talking with one autistic young man that his school managed his overwhelm at being in a large class by putting him in the corridor to work. He lost contact with the teacher, was unable to ask questions, was distracted by people walking up and down the corridor and his education suffered.
In employment, discrimination operates in both visible and invisible ways. Research consistently shows that identical CVs receive different response rates based solely on names perceived as belonging to different racial or ethnic groups. One study found that applicants with "white-sounding" names received 50% more callbacks than identical CVs with "Black-sounding" names. This happens before any assessment of "merit" can even take place.
Historical housing discrimination in the UK has created intergenerational disadvantages that persist today. Ethnic minorities and low-income communities have long faced barriers to homeownership, from racist rental and mortgage practices to policies that concentrated them in poorer-quality housing. Limited access to stable housing in well-resourced areas has restricted opportunities for better education, safer environments, and long-term financial security. The effects of these inequalities continue to shape life chances today, creating vastly different starting points for children born into different circumstances.
Healthcare systems often reflect and reinforce existing inequalities. Medical research and training have historically focused on white, male bodies, leading to misdiagnosis or inadequate treatment for others. For example, heart attack symptoms present differently in women than in men, yet the "typical" symptoms taught in medical training are based on male presentations—potentially delaying critical care for women. Similarly, Black and Asian patients in the UK have faced disparities in pain management and maternal care, with Black women being four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Conditions like ME/CFS, which disproportionately affect women, have also been historically under-researched and dismissed.
Digital accessibility remains an ongoing challenge. As more services and jobs move online, inaccessible websites and software exclude disabled people, particularly those who rely on screen readers or other assistive technologies. Despite legal protections under the Equality Act 2010, compliance is inconsistent, leaving many talented individuals unable to fully participate in the workforce. The digital divide also disproportionately impacts older adults and low-income communities, exacerbating existing inequalities.
Unconscious bias compounds these structural issues. Despite our best intentions, we all carry implicit biases that shape our decisions:
Affinity bias leads us to favour people similar to ourselves, influencing hiring, mentoring, and promotion decisions.
Confirmation bias causes us to notice information that supports our existing beliefs while overlooking contradictory evidence.
Attribution bias means we tend to attribute the success of people like us to skill but the success of others to luck or external factors.
These biases operate below our conscious awareness, making them particularly difficult to address without deliberate effort and structural changes. Studies show that CVs with “ethnic sounding” names receive fewer interview invitations, and women, disabled people, and working-class applicants often face additional scrutiny in hiring and promotion processes.
The idea that the UK is a pure meritocracy ignores these realities. When people from marginalised groups request accommodations or policy changes, they aren’t asking for special treatment—they’re asking for the removal of barriers that have nothing to do with their abilities, talents, or work ethic.
The reality is that no one is asking for special treatment—just the chance to be judged fairly, to have the same opportunities, and to be supported when the odds are stacked against them. If so-called ‘equality’ was really about giving certain people an unfair advantage, what privilege was I asking for when I was passed over for promotion despite my hard work? What special favour was I seeking when I needed time to recover from surgery, only to find the system had no space for people like me?
Farage and others pushing this narrative would have us believe that efforts to level the playing field are actually a form of discrimination. But equality isn’t about taking something away from one group to give to another—it’s about ensuring that barriers which never should have been there in the first place are removed for everyone.
So, what can we do? First, we must courageously examine our own socialisation. No matter who we are, we have all been through the process of socialisation and no matter how we might view ourselves, we will have picked up prejudicial views along the way. We need to find them and root them out. Second, we need to challenge these misleading claims when we hear them. We should call out the false idea that people from marginalised backgrounds are asking for something extra, rather than simply what’s fair. Third, we must push for meaningful change—whether that’s supporting fairer workplace policies, strengthening legal protections, or taking a hard look at our own unconscious biases and the opportunities we give (or deny) to others.
True equality means success is based on talent, effort, and hard work—not background, privilege, or luck. And if that makes some people uncomfortable, perhaps it’s because they’ve never had to ask themselves why the system worked so well in their favour to begin with.
#WorkplaceInclusion #Equality #DiversityMatters #SocialJustice
