Disabling Barriers Scotland
Disabling Barriers Scotland is a Not for Profit Group with a focus on assisting aspiring solicitors with a disability to gain access to the legal sector, remove obstacles faced by lawyers with disabilities throughout their legal careers, and celebrate the successful careers of lawyers with disabilities.
Our mission
Disabling Barriers is the only community in Scotland for aspiring and practising solicitors
Disabling Barriers is the only community in Scotland for aspiring and practising solicitors with a disability, offering representation, advocacy, education, and engagement. Our mission is to create a community of belonging which offers peer support, celebrates the careers of those with disabilities and removes the barriers to equal opportunity within our profession.
Approximately 55,000 students in Scotland have a known disability. Over the last five academic years, the number of UK students with a declared disability has increased by 46% making up almost 1 in 5 of home students. (HESA, Who’s Studying in HE?)
Despite this, 5% of all respondents to a recent survey by the Law Society of Scotland consider themselves to have a disability (this is the same as 2018 vs. 4% in 2013). This 5% is compared to an average 14% of the UK workforce. The Profile of the Profession Survey (PoP) 2023 was completed by over 3,100 solicitors, trainees and accredited paralegals.
About our Founders
About Our Founders
We are called Disabling Barriers because we are a team that focus on dismantling the barriers that prevent a person from accessing or sustaining a career in the Scottish legal profession, rather than people’s individual health conditions.”
Recently appointed to the Law Society of Scotland Equality & Diversity Committee and regularly engages in outreach across the profession. Fraser and Tom first met through a shared difficulty of accessing similar support available to students and solicitors in England & Wales. To date they have encountered many students who have faced similar difficulties and share a determination to ensure that equal opportunities exist for those who wish to pursue a legal career in Scotland.
Tom McGovern
Having disclosed his Dyslexia during a court hearing, Tom was featured in a BBC News interview about his experience of the legal profession. Tom was diagnosed with Dyslexia at the age of seven and received assistance throughout school and University.
Fraser Mackay
Diagnosed with Dyspraxia at age 11, Fraser sought support entering the Scottish legal profession. He found that while England had many groups to support aspiring solicitors who have a disability or health condition, Scotland had no comparative programme.
WS Society event
Disabling Barriers Scotland is a Not for Profit Group with a focus on assisting aspiring solicitors with a disability to gain access to the legal sector
Founding Firms
Disabling Barriers Scotland is a Not for Profit Group with a focus on assisting aspiring solicitors with a disability to gain access to the legal sector
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