Disabling the handicap notion

INTERVIEW: Andrew Fleming fights disability discrimination

Positive thinking is something which Andrew Fleming, the new chairman of the Law Society's Group for Solicitors with Disabilities (GSD) certainly has in abundance.

Whereas some people would see having a disability as a handicap, he looks at it in a very different light.

'My epilepsy, which I don't even really see as a disability, has been a huge benefit for me and my firm,' he says.

'It means that clients who have any sort of disability or serious illness can immediately relate to my experience and my specialist knowledge of the area.'Mr Fleming, a solicitor specialising in claimant personal injury (PI) at Tonbridge firm Lawrence Hamblin, admits that not all firms have the same approach.

'Many employers still discriminate against disabled solicitors, and will choose an able-bodied candidate over a disabled one,' he says.'This is what I want to focus on in my time as chairman.

I want to encourage firms to realise that disabled solicitors have an enormous amount to offer, and can often be used as a positive marketing tool.' He points out that there are a large number of disabled people in the community, and they will be able to relate to a disabled solicitor.There are also benefits for other clients: 'I have made an enormous amount of contacts through my epilepsy - for example, in the National Society for Epilepsy - so I have immediate access to specialists, which is very useful for PI work.' Disabled solicitors are, essentially, multi-skilled: 'Members of the GSD are not only highly intelligent solicitors, but also experts in the field of their disability.'Changing employers' perceptions is the long-term goal, but Mr Fleming has more immediate aims.

'I want to increase our membership,' he says.

'We're only 300 strong, whereas I know that there are more disabled solicitors out there.

We can only implement change with a vibrant and strong membership.'One way to get the GSD's voice heard louder is through its recently allocated seat on the Law Society Council.

'This was an enormous leap for us, and we are very keen to work closely with the Law Society to get our concerns and issues heard,' Mr Fleming stresses.So for the GSD, it will be a year of expansion and progression.

Its chairman is relishing the challenge, and hopes to use that positive attitude to implement some serious changes.Victoria MacCallum