Scope plans to encourage disabled into industry

The position will be unpaid because Scope believes a ‘volunteer' role will attract more interest.

Head of comms ­Alexandra O'Dwyer said the charity had considered trying to entice disabled individuals from other organisations by creating a paid position - but was not convinced there would be sufficient suitable candidates.

‘We decided a volunteer position would help us ­ultimately to create our own pool of candidates,' O'Dwyer explained.

‘This will be a genuine ­volunteer role, with defined objectives and full support.'

As well as providing disabled people with a route into PR, the charity hopes the position will challenge journalists' attitudes via ­contact with disabled PROs.

A potential part of the ­volunteer's brief could be to develop a paid spec for a ­permanent paid role.

One of the charity's roles is to provide a voice to disabled people, and it is determined to have more disabled spokespeople.

The Scope comms team shares an office with Disability Now, and is keen to develop best ­practice examples in PR, comparable to those provided by the paper. The role is likely to come into effect next year.