Moving on: to work

With a progressive disability where your needs are ever-changing, the possibility of holding down a job may seem remote. But there are organisations that make the possibility of leading a productive role in the workplace more real than you probably thought. Katie

Finding Work, by Katie Henderson

After three years, I left my first job as a CCTV operator and claimed Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) whilst looking for a new job. After six months of claiming JSA I was referred to a Disability Employment Advisor who had been based at the Jobcentre all along and was someone I should have seen in the first place. After a short, friendly and informal interview, she put me in touch with a Development Officer based at The Shaw Trust.

The Development Officer advised me not to mention my disability in my CV. Amazingly, I got an interview for the very next job I applied for - where my CV failed to mention I was disabled. When I got the phone call asking me to attend, I said then that I was a wheelchair-user and asked if this would be a problem, but I was assured everything was accessible. I went to the interview and thought it went very well. I did however receive a rejection letter in the post a week later. So frustrating!

A few weeks afterwards, I went after a job in administration at one of Coventry’s police stations – which I got!

This placement is one the West Midlands Police specifically offer to Shaw Trust clients. In accordance to the Disability Discrimination Act an employer is now required to make ‘reasonable’ adjustments for disabled employees, but reasonable is a very vague word and some employees are better than others.

My Development Officer and I devised an Action Plan of the ‘reasonable adjustments’ I may need; making my workstation accessible, the fact I may need more time physically to complete tasks and, due to fatigue issues, that I would need to start my shift later in the day and work no longer than six hour shifts. This plan can be changed or added to at any time to take into account future problems.

Access to Work contributes towards transport to and from work. I pay the equivalent of what public transport would be and they pay the extra cost of a black cab. Access to Work will also pay for any physical changes I may need to my workstation etc.

Katie (now 21) was diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia when she was 8.

You can find more information on Disability Employment Advisors and Access to Work at the Jobcentre Plus website.

Other useful sites include:

Shaw Trust, a national charity that provides training and work opportunities for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market due to disability, ill health or other social circumstances.
Employment Opportunities, another charity helping people with disabilities find and retain work.
Skill provides a free information and advice service for individual disabled people and the professionals who work with them, via a freephone helpline, email and the website. The aim is to help disabled people to overcome financial and physical barriers, ignorance and discrimination so that they can study, train or find work.

If you want to see your story, poem, ideas or review here, email alex@ataxia.org.uk.

Helpline: 0845 644 0606

Moving on: to work