I – In Work

Having written a post about Gaining Employment, this post is all about my experiences in work. Despite communication being the main barrier, I face when trying to get a job, this does not seem to be a barrier when I’ve got my foot in the door!

As people get to know me, they find that they tune into my speech, so I would therefore never apply for a public facing job! All of my jobs have involved me working with more or less the same groups of people meaning that in time they tune into my speech. When my communication does pose challenges then there are certain strategies I employ. One example being when I need some information urgently, it is very frustrating when people say ‘Just pick up the phone and ask them.’ (People find it is far easier to understand me when we are face to face.) In these situations, I will therefore email the person with the question but then as soon as I press the ‘send’ button I will ‘phone them and start the conversation, ‘further to my email…’

My second strategy which I employ is when I go to meet people for the first time, I will often write down the name of the person I am wanting to see just in case I have to ask for them in a reception area. I would only use the piece of paper as a back-up as I always prefer trying to make people understand my speech but if I do get into problems it is something that I can quickly whip it out!

Walking is another aspect of my disability that I need to consider, as walking can be quite tiring. Not only can it be tiring it can be time consuming which is frustrating especially when I am particularly busy and need as much time at my desk as possible. My strategy for this aspect is to try and arrange to meet people either directly before the time I want to go out to get my lunch or directly afterwards. ‘Killing two birds with one stone is a phrase which comes to mind!

One of the biggest challenges I’ve found with working in the NHS is the rapid turnover of staff. In my previous job I had a total of 15 managers over the 15 years. (It is pure coincidence that it sounds like I had a new manager every year – some managers stayed more than a year and some less.) As I think I mentioned in the post which I wrote on Health whenever I have a new manger I often feel like I am the one who has the new job. Feeling that I have to prove myself once again and break down that barrier of assumptions and reality. As you would expect, some managers have been better than others. I am sure one manager just wanted to get rid of me, trying to do this by moving me and my job to a totally different department. My next manager quickly moved me back straight away!

I think it was back in 2016 that I really begun to think about the need to reduce my hours as I was finding full time work too tiring. I made two flexible working applications one in 2016 one in early 2018 but they were both turned down. 2018 turned out to be a quite a bad year for me health wise as it was the year when the problems with my jaw really impacted my life due to needing to change medication to help with pain relief. The hospital where I work has a very strict sickness policy and although I have been known to work, on several occasions, despite not being well enough, I found myself in a situation where my attendance was under review – it was an absolutely horrible situation. I remember before going into the sickness meeting, I went through all the times I had been off sick and I knew I’d needed every single one of those ‘sick days’ and in some cases, I probably returned to work too quickly!

During one of the review meetings the Occupational Health doctor recommended redeployment which carried risks. As soon as I signed on the dotted line I was acknowledging that if no alternative job was found for me I would probably face dismissal. I also knew my body had had enough of full-time work so I really did need to sign on that dotted line! This was obviously a very stressful time, not only for me but also for my family. Fortunately, my manager at that time was very supportive and instead of giving me 4 weeks to work with the HR team, to find an alternative job I was given 12 weeks. My manager was also very good in the July of that year as she could see how much I was struggling yet I did not want to give up so they allowed me to reduce my working week to four days. I always remember my manager commenting about the difference in me that she had noted. When I was only doing four days and having Wednesdays off, by the Friday I no longer looked totally exhausted but also that she was no longer struggling, by the end of the week, to understand my speech. (My speech is always worse when I am tired.)

November 2018 was when I took on my new job as Disability Champion and I am now very much seeing myself as trying to use my often, bad experiences and turning them into good for people who may follow in my footsteps. Just before Covid-19 the sickness policy was going to be amended so that the sickness triggers are not as stringent for people with Disabilities/Long Term Health Conditions. (Helping people like myself who take more time fully get over an illness.) I am also working with a colleague to get the Redeployment policy reviewed and that will contain a totally different process which managers can follow for people with a Disability/Long Term Health Condition. (At the moment the Redeployment Policy is very much written with people who are being disciplined in mind rather than people with a disability who no longer feel able to do the job.) My next major bit of work, is a Disability Passport which I have heard about not only through other Hospital Trusts but also companies. The Disability Passport is a document which formally details any Reasonable Adjustments which you need in order to do your job plus it details any other disability specific information your manager needs to be aware of. The purpose of the document is that it stays with you throughout your employment and will therefore provide information for any new managers. I am sure that having a Disability Passport would have really helped me, in the past and I can see it will be useful in the future to me and other people, so I am looking forward to developing this.