Jo’s story – The basic right of employment: Seeing the ability in disability

INTRODUCTION

It is very valuable to share and learn from experiences and others, and this year has been all about doing that for me. Despite COVID-19 and the implications that has had on people with disability, it has also been a good time to shine a spotlight on people who often ‘draw the short straw’ in many areas of life, particularly employment.

I am hearing impaired and acquired a sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) after an adverse reaction to a routine immunisation, aged 16.  I am unable to hear high pitch sounds but can hear low frequencies quite well.  Living with disability has never hindered my goals or ambition and with the loving support of my family and friends, I have been very clear on what my career path is and how to get there.

My background is in education, design and accessibility or a mix of all three ­– accessible education design.  I started my career in graphic design, corporate training and conferencing, moved up to become a tutor then teacher and then, based on my experience teaching many students who lived with disability, developed a burning ambition to move into the higher education sector, in the area of disabilities and accessibility. I am a firm believer, that regardless of disability, you have to do the work to climb the ladder, so I set out obtaining several higher educational qualifications, for which I was highly awarded for outstanding academic performance.  This was hard work rewarded and a very proud moment.

Career wise, I have been quite lucky with employment and have mostly had great experiences.  I am a hardworking and loyal employee and most of my jobs have been long term.  I loved working in the corporate sector, this was a time before equity and diversity entered the public consciousness ­– although my manager Dr Julie Knutsen was incredibly supportive and way ahead of the curve where work modifications and technology was concerned. Thus, I had a lovely experience working with Julie, and while our careers have taken different turns, we continue to work together on many projects and have a very strong friendship built on trust and respect.

My next role was tutoring and then teaching at a local college.  I held this position for 12 years and enjoyed every part of being employed in this role.  I had many experienced colleagues who had been with the institute for many decades and the support in terms of my disability was overwhelmingly positive.  I enjoyed being a teacher. I had many students who lived with disability and the rapport we shared made my role even more enjoyable and rewarding.  I have many heartfelt cards from students that I have kept as a reminder of this wonderful time in my career and have kept in touch with many and followed their successful career paths.

 

EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPENEUSHIP

Unfortunately, due to a college restructure, I found myself with a redundancy ­– which, after two decades of secure employment, was quite a scary feeling. To make sure I never found myself unemployed again and with great skills and experience I knew I could monetise easily due to demand for my advanced skills, I decided to employ myself.  It made sense to join forces with my husband Justin, a senior lecturer, educational designer and skilled digital media producer, and together we started our boutique design studio JUSJO Creative from our modest home office.  At first, we focused on building the business up through our known contacts, but through our reputation for quality and the professionalism of our work, it soon meant that the business grew, and for me especially, I was able to sustain myself financially, which was a great feeling. 

The benefit of using your skills to work from home, particularly for those living with disability is very empowering.  Working from the home also means that you are in your comfort zone and have the supports and environment you need, whatever they might be.  It also means you can work the hours that suit you and maintain an important work/life balance, in addition to doing other employment as it comes available.  But knowing that you have that income and job to fall back upon is what really inspires me.  It is also a wonderful way to increase your own professional development and upskill to add new offerings to your business.  For me, I started very small with a manageable amount of work.  I also looked at where there were gaps in my market and decided to focus on supporting overworked and busy academics, who come to me for a range of design collateral, formatting reports and PhD’s, infographics, diagrams, poster presentations, custom PowerPoints, co-writing and production of professionally produced learning resources.  Through word of mouth, my business has grown steadily, and I am very happy in this time and space.

 

INDIGNITY

Whilst my business was going well and I enjoyed working from home, I did have a yearning to get back on the horse, to be employed professionally where I could grow my skills further and have work colleagues to integrate with – which is beneficial for my personality type. I spent 18 months looking for a part-time job to supplement my freelance income and found one with a large local employer. Things started ok, and I was welcomed by my team initially, however it wasn’t long before I discovered my new boss was a bully.  Without going into too much detail, I noticed the way she treated the rest of the team compared to the way she treated me and while it was subtle at first, alarm bells started ringing. It became clear very early on that my manager did not want to work with me and was unaccepting of my special needs, work and communication style and many other things that make me unique. She started by grinding me down over time, I suspect, so I would move on to a new role. But because I actually liked the work I was doing, including the organisation, not to mention knowing how hard it was to get the job in the first place, I decided to keep my chin up and persevere. 

At the beginning, when my manager was unfair, I did not react, wasn’t moved and simply kept attending to my work. However, as she applied more pressure, I slowly felt my self-esteem and overall health start to decline. Things that happened to me were many, but something that sticks out as a hard of hearing person, was being asked to attend a psychologist to learn how to listen!  I was also told my work was poor and that I was not the person I presented myself as in terms of my skills, qualifications and experience and threatened with demotion. This news was heartbreaking, as every other person that worked with me in previous employment, as well as through JUSJO, were full of praise and always said my work was of a very high caliber. 

 

I could not understand how my work could be perceived so differently, so I set about trying harder and working harder. This tactic did not bode well, because the reaction to being enthusiastic and working overtime (of my own accord and for free) was perceived as not being able to do the work in my allocated hours and not having the skills, as required by my position description. I asked for hearing supports for meetings, such as an agenda, minutes or a quick rehash – which resulted in me being excluded from team meetings entirely.  Meetings were a place where work projects were discussed and without being present, I missed out on critical information to do my job.  My colleagues started to complain that I was asking too many project related questions (that I should know – despite being excluded from project meetings) and were directed to report me every time I ‘disrupted’ them to our manager.

Additionally, despite my advanced design skills and speed, I was given complex tasks with unreasonable time frames attached, I was also asked to create sophisticated designs in software programs that could not handle such complexity.  This worked to essentially apply pressure and compound my stress, leaving little time to apply quality control, such as proofreading and admittedly through the fear created within the tense environment, I stated making small mistakes. When the treatment I had to endure became too much, I had trust in the organisation (due to their solid equity policy) that I could speak up and feel safe to do so.  I felt like I might have a good chance of being supported and that the situation would be resolved peacefully and with a positive outcome.

I was wrong in this assumption and from this point my dignity was eroded even further, as I was sent to multiple psychiatrists, drug tested, forced to disclose any medications and put under investigation. My manager denied everything I reported had happened and despite recommendations from four different psychologists (two of whom enaged by the organisation) that I was telling the truth and had been treated unfairly, the investigation ruled that the way I was treated was ‘reasonable management action’.  Despite a recommendation of department transfer, I was told I would be stood down on 12 months unpaid leave, after which time they would terminate my employment.  I promptly resigned to keep my dignity intact.

From here, I channeled my energy into regaining my dignity and self-confidence, which had been severely eroded by this unfortunate toxic experience that should never happen to anyone, especially someone who lives with disability.  I threw my energies back into JUSJO and turning it into a viable little business, where I was safe and happy to be creative and work on my terms. Part of my recovery was also to find a part-time job elsewhere. I was unemployed two years and applied for many positions in a variety of organisations.  My experiences during this time included being asked to travel up to 3 hours to and from work daily, as well as to aim low and get a job at a supermarket, picking fruit on a farm or in a factory doing menial tasks.  One time, after seeing my impressive resume, I was approached by a great organisation who called my husband and said they wanted to hire me immediately.  Upon realising during the online interview I had hearing loss, they cut the interview short and I never heard from them again. These kinds of experiences were many and were very deflating. It is difficult to push on and keep yourself motivated in the face of constant rejection, but due to my martial arts training, it is in my nature to keep going, so I did.

 

A NEW PATH

Something my MuayThai coach always said to me, is ‘if you want to break down a wall, you must keep hitting in the same spot repeatedly, over and over, and eventually you will bring down that wall’. This message resonated strongly with me, so I kept pushing forward and applying for work in the area of my dreams and goals.  In doing this, I made some important contacts, including Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM and his mother Chithrani and together they helped me open some doors. At Dinesh’s urging, I pushed on with job applications and early this year I was very fortunate to knock down that wall and obtain my dream job with Griffith University, an educational provider and employer who prides itself on being equitable and fostering an inclusive, safe and supportive environment for all. 

My manager, Professor Elizabeth Kendall, Executive Director of The Hopkins Centre, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, has dedicated her life to working towards fostering equity, fairness and quality of life for people who live with disability.  She believes ‘employment is one of biggest human rights issues, and that it is a basic human right to have employment.’ Elizabeth has been a wonderful manager and advocate. I also have many supportive colleagues who inspire and encourage me daily. To date, I have joined many important teams and projects that do wonderful things for people who live with disability, including Griffith Inclusive Futures, HabITec, The Dignity Project and The Griffith Disability Advisory Committee. I also recently joined the Board of Enabled.vip with Dr Gary Allen and partnered with several other Griffith disability professionals including Cathy Easte to produce the ADCET Guideline for ‘Supporting Deaf and hard of hearing students online’, which has been a career highlight.

Elizabeth and I have had many conversations surrounding how we can help others living with disability to be treated with dignity, find gainful employment or to become entrepreneurs with their own business. We agree that many organisations preach equality but do not practise it.  It is one thing to have all the policies and procedures, that say you are an inclusive and fair employer and another entirely to uphold and apply these values. People who live with disability must be given the right to apply, interview and to be employed fairly, based on merit and to have reasonable adjustments or job modifications (where required) to allow them to perform their best.

I believe we can do better as a society to give people with disabilities a fair go ­– and I am very passionate about using my position and valuable lived-experiences, both good and bad, as a catalyst to work towards fostering inclusion, celebrating diversity and disabling stereotypes.  My goal: Turning disability... into ability!