Divergence Events Ltd creates events where everyone belongs. We specialise in designing and delivering genuinely accessible, inclusive experiences for autistic, neurodivergent, and disabled people. From strategic planning and staff training to full event management, we remove barriers, build confidence, and help organisations meet both legal duties and real human needs. Our mission is simple: to make inclusion the standard, not the add-on, so every event becomes welcoming, equitable, and thoughtfully designed for all.
See the About section for more details about company director, Elise Guthrie Stirling.
Anyone who organises events has an obligation to know and do better with regards to creating equality of opportunity for the people who attend, or may wish to attend, their events. This is regardless of whether the events are large, small, regular, or one-off, no matter who the intended audience or participants are. Whether your business or organisation has planned events for years, or this is the first time you’ve done it, being aware of and embracing diversity, equality and inclusion is not optional and ignorance is not an excuse. Your customers, clients and service users are vital to your business or organisation and that includes the ones who are autistic, neurodivergent or disabled whether you are aware of their existence or not. So, you either need to be armed with the knowledge and understanding to support these people to the best of your capabilities, through appropriately framed training and development, or you can engage the services of someone who is to help you through it!
Under the Equality Act 2010, businesses, organisations and service providers in the UK have a legal responsibility to prevent disability discrimination in all aspects of their operations, including employment, the provision of goods and services, and education. While not all autistic and/or otherwise neurodivergent people identify themselves as being disabled, often the challenges they face mean that they are protected under the Equality Act 2010 against being put at a substantial disadvantage by your business or organisation. There are a number of different ways that this disadvantage can arise, and different ways to avoid or overcome these disadvantages, but it is your duty to anticipate that these challenges may arise and put steps in place to avoid discrimination and maximise opportunities for equitable engagement of autistic, neurodivergent and disabled customers, clients and service users.
The Equality Act 2010 says that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a long term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Physical or mental impairment includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing. Some, but not all, disabled people will also have been identified as having additional support needs (ASN) and may already be receiving additional support in their school, college, workplace, and in public spaces. However, some disabled people will not have ASN, and some disabled people with ASN will still need accommodations to be made for them in addition to any support they already receive. All businesses, organisations and service providers should keep up-to-date on the most fitting definition of disability based on updates through legislation and participatory advocacy from within the community.
The term ‘physical impairment’ may include for example cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, arthritis, hearing or sight impairment, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome (ME), HIV, cancer, multiple sclerosis as well as facial disfigurement. The term ‘mental impairment’ may include depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia. It may also include what are often known as learning difficulties. For example dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia. Often, neurodivergent people identify as having a ‘mental impairment’ for support purposes, such as autistic individuals and those with ADHD. However, despite the legislative categorisation of this, using deficits language like ‘impairment’ is often thought of as offensive to those who subscribe to a more ‘neuroaffirmitive’ approach to describing these types of human diversity. This preference does not affect their right to experiences that maximise their opportunity to be included, free from disadvantages, barriers, and potential discrimination.
Regardless of whether individuals consider themselves to have a (or more than one) type of impairment, they are protected from discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 if there is a substantial adverse effect arising from their divergent needs and challenges. This is an effect that is more than minor or trivial - a limitation that is more than the typical range of differences in ability that might exist among people. It makes it more difficult and time consuming for the person to carry out an activity compared to someone without the impairment(s). Normal day-to-day activities are activities that are carried out by most people on a fairly regular and frequent basis, for example:
• mobility;
• manual dexterity;
• physical co-ordination;
• continence;
• ability to lift, carry or move everyday objects;
• speech, hearing or eyesight;
• memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand; or
• perception of the risk of physical danger.
Usually a person who wears spectacles would not be considered disabled. However, a person who is visually impaired and wears spectacles would be considered disabled if they meet the definition above.
A long-term effect of impairment is one which:
• has lasted at least 12 months; or
• is likely to last at least 12 months; or
• is likely to last for the rest of the person’s life.
Effects such as the loss of mobility due to a broken limb or the effects of temporary infections are not considered to be long-term because a person would be likely to recover from these within 12 months. If an effect is likely to come and go over a period of time (i.e. It is likely to recur) it is considered to be long-term. For example, a person with arthritis has a period of remission, but it is expected that there will be a recurrence 12 months or more after the initial occurrence, this amounts to a long-term effect.
The Equality Act 2010 states that it is unlawful to discriminate against a person by treating them less favourably because of their disability. It is also unlawful to discriminate because of the disability of another person with whom the person is associated. The law on disability discrimination is different from the rest of the Equality Act in a number of ways. In particular, it works in only one direction – that is to say, it protects disabled people but not people who are not disabled. This means that businesses, organisations and service providers are allowed to treat disabled people more favourably than non-disabled people, and in some cases are required to do so, by making reasonable adjustments to put them on a more level footing with people without disabilities. The definition of what constitutes discrimination is more complex. The Equality Act defines four kinds of unlawful behaviour – direct discrimination; indirect discrimination; harassment and victimisation.
Direct discrimination occurs when one person treats another less favourably, because of a protected characteristic, than they treat – or would treat – other people. This describes the most clear-cut and obvious examples of discrimination – for example if a ticket vendor was to refuse to let a person get a VIP ticket as they are disabled and are expected to sit in a designated area because of this.
Indirect discrimination occurs when a “provision, criterion or practice” is applied generally but has the effect of putting people with a particular characteristic at a disadvantage when compared to people without that characteristic. An example might be insisting on telephone communication for requesting support when the person cannot do so as a result of their disability. There is only a defence against a claim of indirect discrimination if it can be shown to be “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. This means both that the reason for the rule or practice is legitimate, and that it could not reasonably be achieved in a different way which did not discriminate.
Harassment has a specific legal definition in the Equality Act - it is “unwanted conduct, related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person”. This covers unpleasant and bullying behaviour, but potentially extends also to actions which, whether intentionally or unintentionally, cause offence to a person because of a protected characteristic. Thus, if staff member belittles a person and holds them up to ridicule in public because of or relating to a
disability they have, this could lead to a court case alleging unlawful harassment.
Victimisation occurs when a person is treated less favourably than they otherwise would have been because of something they have done (“a protected act”) in connection with the Equality Act. A protected act might involve, for example, making an allegation of discrimination or bringing a case under the Equality Act, or supporting another person’s complaint by giving evidence or information, but it includes anything that is done under or in connection with the Equality Act. Even if what a person did or said was incorrect or misconceived, for example based on a misunderstanding of the situation or of what the law provides, they are protected against retaliation unless they were acting in bad faith.
Discrimination by association occurs when a person is treated less favourably because they are linked or associated with a protected characteristic. The person does not have the protected characteristic but they are treated less favourably than others because of a protected characteristic of a friend, spouse, partner, parent or another person with whom they are associated. This includes harassment and victimisation in relation to protected characteristics.
Discrimination by perception happens when a person is discriminated against because they are thought to have a particular protected characteristic when in fact they do not. If a venue were to discriminate against a person because they think they are disabled then the individual will be protected even if they are not in fact disabled. This would also apply to an example of children attending a party who have additional support needs, but these do not amount to a disability. To discriminate against them because they are perceived to have a disability is discrimination by perception.
On a claim of discrimination arising from disability, businesses, organisations and service providers have a defence if they:
• did not know of the disability, and
• could not reasonably have been expected to know of the disability.
Businesses, organisations and service providers are not expected to anticipate the needs of every individual who may use their service, but what they are required to think about and take reasonable steps to overcome are barriers that may impede people with different kinds of disability. Once the business, organisation or service provider has become aware of the requirements of a particular disabled person, they should then take the necessary steps to meet these requirements. This is especially so where a disabled person or their carer has pointed out the difficulties that they face in accessing venues, events and services, or has suggested a reasonable solution to that difficulty. Not all people themselves, or their carer, however, will be fully aware that their characteristics amount to a disability. Not openly disclosing a disability, therefore, is not a reasonable defence against discrimination. All personnel using this policy will be expected to have a basic understanding of such matters as part of their diversity, equality and inclusion policy.
In terms of causal link to disability, for example if a person is ejected for misconduct or behaviour that had a direct link with their disability, businesses, organisations and service providers can still be liable if they knew or should have known about the disability.
There is no set definition of ‘reasonable’ in the Equality Act, it is a context-dependent based on the circumstances of what customers, clients and service users may need, as well as the nature of the organisation and the specific event/venue being offered.
Adjustments could be (for example):
When considering reasonable adjustments, factors to take into account include:
The duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ should be anticipatory. Businesses, organisations and service providers should foresee the potential barriers that disabled people may face and act to remove or minimise such barriers before a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage. Not providing reasonable adjustments for a disabled person may amount to disability discrimination, and legal advice should be sought prior to refusing a request for a reasonable adjustment.
The purpose of taking these steps is to ensure that disabled people are as far as possible not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled people. The duty to make reasonable adjustments equates to ensuring that steps are taken to provide the best possible experience for disabled people. It is unlawful to charge a person for making a reasonable adjustment in any circumstances, whatever the financial cost. However, as set out above the cost of an adjustment is one of the factors to be taken into account when considering whether or not the adjustment is reasonable.
When deciding how to approach diversity, equality and inclusion for your event, businesses, organisations and service providers may benefit from consulting and engaging with people affected by their decisions – disabled people, the autistic community, neurodivergent staff members, and others who may be affected – and with people who have special knowledge which can inform the best approach for the situation. It is important to recognise context of communities – such as the community of parents who have children with ASN and disabilities, and adults who themselves are affected by disability (as defined by the Equality Act) and neurodiversity (such as autistic adults, adults with ADHD, and adults with dyspraxia, Tourette’s, OCD, etc) who may or may not identify as disabled but share similarities with those who have ASN and disabilities and are protected under the Equality Act 2010.
When engaging the services of Divergence Events Ltd, this is all done with you and on your behalf where appropriate, and bespoke packages are available to meet the complexities of your event planning and management.
Book a service here to find out what you can do as a business, organisation or service provider to make your events truly inclusive now and moving forward for the future.