1 Understanding Leadership from a Disability Perspective Stephanie Brewster a Angela Clifford a Neil Duncan a Mahmoud Emira b Alison Taysum c Bob Williams-Findlay a a University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK b City and Guilds of London Institute, London, UK c University of Leicester, Leicester, UK Abstract There is considerable evidence of widespread exclusion of disabled people from the labour market generally (Bebbington 2009); and in the lifelong learning sector Fullick described a situation of "widespread institutional discrimination against disabled staff" (2008:1). Furthermore, there is a lack of disabled people in senior and leadership positions in the sector. This research project explored how disabled staff in one University perceive leadership, the barriers preventing them from taking on leadership roles and how they could be supported to overcome these challenges. Many participants aspired to leadership and reported positive experiences. But many identified barriers such as the nature of their impairments, lack of appropriate support, inadequate training and development and the competitive organisational culture that could impact on their health and work-life balance. Participants felt that investment in supportive opportunities for professional development was needed, along with improved awareness of equality and diversity among managers and colleagues. 1. Introduction Any activity that affects disabled people should involve disabled people in leadership roles (Jorgensen et al., 2011). However, like in society more broadly, they are under-represented across the Higher Education (HE) sector in formal management positions. Participation in leadership (whether formal or informal 1 ) might be argued to be a form of professional development, yet unpublished research at one University found that disabled staff felt there were limited opportunities for them to acquire and hold leadership roles. Whilst other socially disadvantaged groups have similar under-representation at HE management level, for example women and Black and Minority Ethnic groups, the situation with disabled people is more complex, as some impairments have an impact on work performance if appropriate adjustments are not made. A social model perspective to disability suggests that it is not so 1 Formal organisational leadership ‘differs from the informal in that it is associated with formal power such as the ability to reward or punish and with formal recognition (e.g., title) by management. Conversely, people perceived by their peers as informal (i.e., emergent) leaders may not be perceived by the management of the organisation as fit to formally occupy a managerial role (and vice versa)’ (Luria, Kalish and Weinstein, 2014: 749).