Wales@work, Tuesday 21 October, 6.30 PM
Available for seven days after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

Is the person next to you in your office deaf or hard of hearing? Is there anyone disabled working in your company?

There are 6.8 million disabled people of working age in Great Britain, which represents 19% of the working age population. But only 50% of disabled people are in work (compared with 75% of able-bodied).

The charity SCOPE says Disabled people make an average of two and a half times as many job applications as non-disabled people and yet get fewer job offers.

But how easy is it for small to medium sized employers to take on someone with disabilities?

Some businesses say that equality legislation scares them off. It makes them fearful of falling foul of the law if they haven't complied exactly with the letter of the law.

So on the day that the Royal National Institute for the Deaf launches a project to give deaf and hard of hearing young people the social skills and training to get on a career path, Wales@work asks how realistic is it for Welsh businesses to hire disabled people and what can be done to encourage more companies to welcome the disabled and hard of hearing into work?