Please don’t get my wrong. I know there are some incredibly successful disabled people out there. In this video I wanted to explore the barriers that I have faced, and discuss if it’s as easy for disabled people to get a job and progress, compared with an abled bodied person. What do you think?
Wheelsnoheels - Gem Hubbard I’ve been trying to get a job but the only places in my area that are ‘entry level’ are fast food/food service and every single one told me that I wouldn’t be able to work there cause you need to be standing for ‘saftey reasons’. Even when I told them that I could get up and walk around as long as I am able to sit ~80% of the time they were like “We’d rather not hire you and get someone who’s legs work.”
Just a thought. How about police support staff. You are computer literate, compassionate, intelligent, organised. Taking calls from members of public with the need for assistance. Non emergency or emergency. Creating reports etc. They don't care if your in a wheelchair, won't even notice!! They jjust need bums on seats to deal with the onslaught everyday. Some forces have termtime only workers so you work your hours when school in session and have term times off. Police officers can do this you would have to look into that, I'm not sure of the rules. Shifts also available. Part-time aswell. I did it for 10 years before I became ill, or did the stress cause it Ha!!!
When I got a doctors note for being able to use a stool at work, my rheumatologist I've seen for 10 years warned me that if I can get by without it might be better. I was absolutely furious until he explained that some employers use doctors notes as excuses to nitpick and find non-disability related things that they can add up to then fire a disabled person so they dont have to deal with it. Hes rather proud that I can work full time in a field he thinks is difficult for a person with my condition, and was afraid that my work was going to find some way to get rid of me so they dont have to deal with me. Apparently it's happened to many of his patients that are willing and able to work in the past.
I have cerebral palsy. While I am not wheelchair-bound my gait is affected. The best way to describe it is that I walk with a limp. My disability is very visible and the second I walk in to an interview I feel judged a lot of the time. Even though, I am a medical assistant and I'm very capable of doing my job I completely agree that we are judged based on our disability rather than our qualifications.
Wow what a nightmare! Thanks for this video! I’m a qualified psychotherapist and really struggling to find a job due to accessibility. I can only work part time (1-2 days a week) so that limits jobs too. My first interview was at Relationship Scotland, I called and asked if it was accessible and they said it was. I turned up and they had step, no call button, I had to phone them and they didn’t have a ramp and said we should go to the cafe next door! The interview was great and she said she loved my approach and my attitude towards client work. It sounded like I got the job and she was talking about getting adaptions. I got a call a few days later saying she doesn’t think I should work there because of “the whole wheelchair thing” and when I told her that was discrimination and has nothing to do with the work, she said clients would have issues. Ive been volunteering for 3 years and literally not one client has had an issue with it- they’ve got enough going on, they dont care what kind of seat I’m sitting on. I’m looking to start private practice and reaally struggling to find an accessible space to work from, the majority of practices I’ve contacted aren’t accessible too. It sucks! It’s also terrible how difficult it is for disabled people to access counselling. Things need to change
@@Wheelsnoheels I believe that accessibility should just be a given. I believe that this is expressed on my web page about Accessibility In Mind. bertvisscher.net/aim.php
9 years ago I had an interview at Hobby Lobby. I was super excited and hopeful right up until the hiring manager came out, called my name, and as I rolled up to him, the first words he said to me in a very disappointed voice was, "Oh, you're in a wheelchair."
I would love to be a chef! And i was doing catering at college but due to my worsening health I need to use a wheelchair most of the time... so now I’ve been refused the course and to work in kitchens... I can cook perfectly at home in my wheelchair! No accidents at all. No burns. 😪
Really liked this video Gem! I just realised when you mentioned it, but maybe you could do a video on the advantages of hiring a disabled person? Just like you mentioned: problem solving and thinking in other ways, but more in depth /with additions from you disabled viewers? 😊
The first job I had, after I came in for my first couple of shifts I got called in for an impromptu meeting. I was told I was being transferred to a different market where I wouldn't be a part of a team and cut my hours. My boss explicitly told me "You're a fantastic worker, this isn't because you're a bad worker, it's because you're disabled. This is the issue of over the phone interviews."
Excellent video! I’m in the states so I can’t speak to Britain, but I wish that ALL people would listen to us and trust us when we say we can do something or what we need. Your point about making the decision for yourself about whether or not the job was right for you is so important. I think that’s a huge barrier for us, that our autonomy automatically gets taken away by others simply because we’re disabled, like you experienced in the coffee shop.
I’m a wheelchair user, but can walk short distances or up short flights of stairs. In my school we have to do work experience and I got a really good placement at a graphic design firm (like my dream job). My careers advisor spoke to me and said that the place had no lift and was up 4 flights of stairs. I almost turned it down immediately, but I decided to visit the place anyway. When I got there I realised that it was just up ONE small flight of stairs- easily manageable. I was really annoyed with my careers advisor, she purposely exaggerated the situation, because she wrongly assumed that for me, one small flight, and FOUR STEEP FLIGHTS of stairs were the same. :/
I've often wondered if I could ever be successful while also living with my disability. It's frustrating how I don't fit a certain mold of nonstop, high energy so I have a hard time finding jobs and working. I feel like such a failure at work but a failure if I don't work. I used to be able to do all sorts of things before my illness sidelined me. I want to be the hardworking person I used to be...I am just so tired and wish I could go back to who I used to be.
The glass staircase is absolutely real. My cousin has autism, and interviewers make snap judgments about her ability to do work based on her disability. They perceive her slow speaking style as a sign that she's not intelligent, and treat her like a child when she's almost 30 and has the strongest work ethic of anyone I know. It frustrates me, as someone who also has a disability, that people so often think they know more about our ability to work than we do ourselves.
We need a glass elevator, like Willy Wonka's. I worked for the Civil Service 1988-95. What they did to me during that tome would now be classed as discrimination. Since I was forced to resign, I have only had one month of paid work - IN 24 YEARS! 😭 I didn't have any real ambition because school never encouraged us to believe we had a right to. Years of fruitless jobsearch led to a breakdown. Now I have very little interest in life because I'm sick of doors being slammed in my face. Amber Rudd only wants to make herself look good because she wants to be the Tory leader. She isn't really interested in helping us at all. Same old Tories. I would not waste my time on her if I were you.
It boils my piss when people dismiss the effect jobseeking has on mental health. Of course people making the rules for the DWP have never had to deal with disability and long-term unemployement.
Since I became visibly disabled (I have a degenerative condition that used to be invisible), I have had 3 jobs... That's it. I'm currently unemployed and cannot find a suitable job at this time. Employers don't care about hiring disabled people at all - they want no hassle, no fuss and they certainly don't want to make any adjustments if they can help it. All the schemes and initiatives in place are meaningless, because if employers don't want to hire us in the first place, the schemes are never used! I've had employers tell me I should "just claim benefits" instead of working, when I'm perfectly capable of doing lots of jobs in my wheelchair. Others have said I should "just do office jobs, like data entry or call centre" work when I have a degree and I'm going back to university this year to complete my Masters, which I'm hoping will help pave the way to my career. My ultimate goal is to work from home, so I know it'll be accessible, I can control my hours and I won't have to continue facing the crushing rejection of hundreds of employers!
this young lady is so strong and intelligent, she is a great inspiration and I think an excellent roll model for women!(handicapped and non handicapped) believe in yourself and see a barrier as a challenge to over come!
Another problem is that, increasingly, entry level jobs in offices etc are specifying a Degree when they didn't in previous decades. That's no good to many of my generation who were not able to go to university.
I was working in a nursing home for about 6 months when I was fired about a week after letting my manager know I was accepted into the diabetic alert guidedog program. I now have my guidedog but haven't been able to get a new job, not for lack of trying. I now have the safety I needed but no one wants give us a chance, I say us because we are a team he keeps me safe and I love him no regrets.
Gem, you just put something into words that has been bothering me lately. I’m a college student in America trying to navigate life with disabling anxiety disorder. I have a service dog who helps me when I’m at school. But right now I have to start choosing what I’m going to do for a career and I’m finding that doors keep closing. I don’t mean to brag, but I have academic scholarships, so I guess I’m smart enough to do work even though it’s difficult. What I really want to do, though, is become a standup comedian who talks about disability and mental illness in a disarming way, but I know that if I do that, I will forever be branded as “mentally ill,” and I don’t know if I’ll ever get a regular job after that. It’s really heartbreaking, feeling like I have to choose between my passion and practicality.
I have applied for roles recently and I am worried that the reason I am getting no's back is because I have been honest and told them I am a wheelchair user. I have good skills for the roles I have looked at but no one wants me. I don't want to lie but I do want a job!! It's just so sad!!
Maybe we need to start with general accessibility, I've been considering joining a gym, but so far I haven't found one that is suitable for a wheelchair user. I get not everything can be perfect, we suffer from listed buildings and preexisting buildings with problems, but a one floor gym has no excuse for being inaccessible to customers, no disabled changing room is ridiculous. I'm in hospital at the moment, I'm on a ward in a new building, so everything should meet current building code. On the ward there is a toilet and shower in each bay, they aren't labelled as disabled, but are clearly intended to be - but this is for able bodied and disabled people, people who are unwell or have had surgery. The door handle is at wheelchair height, I can walk a bit and this is close enough for me to walk to, but it's then difficult to get in because the door handle is so low, but then the lock is entirely unsuitable for anyone with a disability in the hands, I can just about manage it. The toilet has fold down grab rails, but is really low, so if you had to do a side by side transfer would be a nightmare. The sink seems to be neither sitting or standing height. The shower was fine for me when I used it but I didn't make a conscious assessment of it. Then the stupid thing is the only bin is a pedal bin, presumably for infection control, I can't use that and clearly others have had problems too as there has been things left out of the bin (gross). A couple of days ago the toilet was blocked, so I asked where else I could go, which was the other end of the ward, so of I wheeled to go use it, it happened to be in use and after waiting a short time I realised I'd seen visitor toilets just outside the ward, so really close to where I was now (all the toilets inside the ward are labelled patients only), so I popped out to use them, there was a ladies and a gents, no separate disabled loo, I thought maybe it's inside or it's one cubicle that's accessible. The ladies was pretty big, two cubicles, if the doors had opened outwards they would have been just about wheelchair accessible, as it was I couldn't turn my chair around and my limited mobility came in handy as I could hope out of my chair. My guess is these toilets are what the staff use. It's a huge ward, the staff photo board is huge, 50+ regular staff on this ward, plus bank, rotations etc. there is a mirror image ward and two on the floor below that I think are similar. That's now 200 jobs a wheelchair user can't do. If we can't even build new hospital wards such that a disabled person could work there how can we expect a regular office building to be. I'm really quite peeved by this, am I not allowed to visit people because of the lack of toilet facilities. I've had so much trouble being a disabled patient, there isn't room for a wheelchair by most bedsides (there is in this ward), so if I needed to direct transfer many times I've had to stay in hospital I would have lost independence I was still capable of using.
Anne Harrison I had to go to hospital quite quickly recently, straight from my doctors surgery. I was horrified that the (standard emergency type) ambulance could not take my manual wheelchair - “there is no way we can secure your wheelchair in the ambulance”, I said I can easily transfer to the standard seats, and take my chair apart and put it on a seat with a seatbelt through the frame/wheels to secure it, they just said there wasn’t any way of taking my wheelchair. I’ve no idea what would happen if I had an accident or emergency and couldn’t advocate for myself - do they just leave the wheelchair by the side of the road? (...it’s not a fancy one, just fairly lightweight and still cost more than a car!). Billie.
This is kind of the opposite for me. For years I tried applying for jobs but never mentioned my disability (I'm deaf), and no one would ever call me for an interview. As soon as I start filling out that part of the job application and mention I have a disability, I get phone calls from every direction. But I have learned the hard way from having 9 different jobs in just a few years, that these companies only wanted to make themselves look good for having a disabled person, but treat me like utter crap and refuse to give me promotions or do anything other than stand there. At one job, I was actually going to get a promotion, but then the manager was switched out with someone else and she found out immediately that I have a disability. Took the promotion from me and gave it to someone who won't even do his job, then forced me to stand at the register all day and would not allow me to work around the store despite the fact that I have been doing that way before she came with no problems. Then, despite the fact that I am adult and I need to pay bills and keep a roof over my head, she cut almost all of my hours. I lost my home and a lot of my stuff and was forced to quit school and move back in with my parents. Still pisses me off to this day.
I have been on interviews where everything sounds sooo positive and all... until i mention my arthritis, even if I explain it won't affect how well I can do the work, And with that the whole positive attitude is flushed down the drain and they are mererly being polite during the rest of the interview. I itterarly see the job get wings and fly away, wish in turn have gotten me to the point that I am pretty much the one with most medical problems at the place. But I have the least sick days with zero due to me pushing myself as i don't want to lose the job. And that is not because i fel the pressure from my boss or coworkers but purerly due to bad experiences from those interviews. One of he higher ups have even told me that I get to slow down if I need.
I strongly recommend not mentioning your arthritis, and inly telling your coworkers/bosses after a few weeks on the job. Has worked miracles for me. It sucks to have to hude, but also, they have no right to know your medical history.
MichiruEll Well two of my biggest merits are eight years on the board for the section of young rheumatic association wish regionally covers about half of Sweden and a year on the national board of young hearing impaired association. So it is kind of hard not to mention.
I got sacked when I was pregnant because the company I was working for didn't want to pay me maternity pay, even though it's very illegal to do that. I was working in a nursing home and I was pretty senior. My disability got much worse whilst I was working for them and they were deliberately crap about making things accessible, but subtle enough that I couldn't prove discrimination. My current job is working for the local authority in family support work. My actual department is great, but I often find that meetings are held upstairs in a building without a lift. These are case conferences that I'm asked to attend, and I always ask them to book the downstairs rooms. Half the time it doesn't happen.
PageMonster If you resign then you’ve made yourself intentionally unemployed and therefore won’t get the help you’re entitled to. Best to hold on and be sacked then you will have grounds for unfair dismissal.
@@ChrisPage68 But I love the job I do and I want to keep doing it. My boss has been great about me working part time to fit around my daughter, and I've been able to progress upwards. I don't think it's intentional at my current job, it's just that people forget. At my old job, it definitely was intentional. There's a reason they sacked me before my maternity leave started, and it wasn't related to how well I was doing the job.
I very much enjoyed your video As always Jen. What’s your dream job now? Were you ever able to connect with Amber and discuss disability employment initiative?
I've been on oxygen for three years. I have a ton of chronic illnesses and issues. I tried so hard to work. I didn't take my oxygen to an interview with Joann Fabrics because every other interview I was in they practically started at it. I have a bachelor's in business management by the way. So I was hired as the assistant store manager. Then I ended up in the hospital for about 2 weeks for food poisoning and a kidney infection and then for blood clots in my lungs. I was fired shortly after my return. So then I went on an interview at Wendy's, obviously without oxygen cause you'll blow the place up if you have it in the restaurant. Got the job as a line supervisor but things got so bad my oxygen dropped to 79, I had pneumonia and bronchitis multiple times, herniated two discs and I was just not capable of being off my oxygen that long. So I quit before I would get fired. I'm glad I did because my health has tanked lately. I'm in the process of applying for disability. I got denied the first time (almost everyone does) and I am waiting for a court date. But I can definitely understand the interviewing with a disability. Before joanns I had probably gone on 10-15 interviews and they all just stared at my oxygen the whole time. It's not okay.
I work for the County Council. They have to be inline with legislation. I have found them very supportive but you do often need help. We have networks to help each other and it works well. Just like with women, helping women, us disabled workers need to help each other too. I am a manager. It can be done, when we work together. Also, there is an Add of the DWP website as they want to set up a consultation group. Apply!
I have met so many of these barriers. I always have to lie about my disabilities and I am getting tired of it. One of my dreams is to start an organisation called "Disableds rights in society" that I hope will reatch a global position some day.
I hope you do, and I wish you all the luck for that. Ill help where I can. I have even found with making youtube videos from home, Im at an unfair advantage to a abled bodied UA-camr, You see I have to have help with admin and written things as im dyslexic. I need a carer to come with me if I travel, and I need help setting up my equipment!!
@@Wheelsnoheels If you're able to make the channel financially viable, you could talk to the Job Centre about Access To Work. It could help you take someone on to assist with those tasks whole Shauno is at work.
@@Wheelsnoheels I'd recommend you to try yourself as Software Tester. This job requires from you tons of attention, but the main benefit is that IT sector is opened to people with disabilities. And they don't mind if you'll work from home.
This is something that makes me so nervous about graduating and finding a job. I'm an engineer and so theres the chance I'll need to access labs and workshops, but theres not guarantee I'll be able to. I cant even think of a part time job i could do while I'm studying because I'm not able bodied. I think companies should do everything they can to accommodate disabled people and I think that positive discrimination (eg: having a quota for number of disabled employees) is needed to make a big enough change. I never know whether to declare that I'm a wheelchair user but then I risk not being able to access the building etc.
Fellow engineer here... in 'engineering school' (especially undergraduate degree AKA Bachelors of Science in Engineering) you have a TON of hands-on lab coursework IF your engineering school is doing things the 'right' way -- and this is something that I say from lived experience... and it sounds like you're at a 'good' school =). I'm in the USA and my disability is NOT mobility-related BUT my engineering career only lasted 4 years BECAUSE discrimination is real and I essentially got chased out of the profession =/ . I prefer hands-on work -- like crawling in and around production machinery -- and after university, I ended up becoming a Manufacturing Engineer that specialized in a highly-specialized sub-discipline. After about 3 years of working, I was being called a "Subject Matter Expert" (SME) -- it was pretty cool because people twice my age we're actually taking me seriously and treating me like a peer. (It was because I was book-smart and 'knew my stuff'.) As for your wheelchair -- in the USA -- "Affirmative Action", especially with the federal government and federal government contractors is _SUPPOSED_ the law of the land ... except that it gets ignored _all the time._ (I spent my entire engineering career working for federal government contractors AND Affirmative Action failed me so miserably... it's because the corporate oligarchs that rule over us all _just don't care_ about disabled people =/ .) Something that I did NOT know until I started working as an engineer is that engineering often requires a LOT of documentation. Most engineers are actually what I think of as "paperwork engineers" -- meaning that they sit at desks all day and do paperwork. =) Their engineering degree is what gives them a strong technical background to DO the paperwork... if that makes sense? Product design engineering -type work & most work related to quality assurance is desk work. As for disability disclosure -- that's an individual choice... my advice is to go with whatever feels right. At the same time, do you really want to NOT disclose from the initial application AND THEN end up working in and environment that is hostile toward the existence of your wheelchair? Hopefully this helps? If you (or someone else) has any questions for me, feel free to click REPLY and ask them.
The only way disabled people will get work is if the discrimination act is made more pro disabled and less pro company that way companies will then have to start looking at the disabled person in a more favorable light. But this will never happen as it is not a BIG THING for the government. I was disabled and put into a wheelchair in 2014 after a 20 year lorry driving job. But i cannot even get a job in a transport office as soon as they know i am in a wheelchair that's it.
I have that feeling a bit I finished my programming degree and after doing 4 years in college I find out about the law in us has act 14 which states that it is ok to pay the disabled less than minimum wage so pretty much if I work I will make less than what I would now on ssi
Hi it’s very hard out there and there should not be a glass stair case in way job centres don’t help much Tried keep my job but was pushed out Keep posting your videos there so help full
I had to leave my job as they wouldn't let me continue as a wheelchair user without a looooooooooong and tedious health and safety assessment and I didn't have time before I graduated to do it. lol At uni i couldn't do work experience because of the severity of my disability meaning i needed access to work and it wasn't available for work experience. I need work experience to be able to get a job. 🤦🏻♀️
Maybe get someone to call and enquire seperatly be something I would do . IV been a vepyed for a dream job they fully new my limitations were fine with it ... Then after 12 weeks extended my probation and eventually let me go ...for the very reasons they knew I had difficulty with and accepted at start. Next job again knew couldn't do stairs or lots of overtime. Fast forward a few months ...need me to do stairs not fair in other staff dentists missing my messages on computer system so need to go up and tell in person ...so rather than getting other staff to check system I was to miraculously run up and down stairs all day ! Then added overtime ... Bye next job ... Im now too sick to work but one day I'll find a job I can do ! I volunteer for now instead
I think that all new building must be wheelchair/ disabilities assessable and that the building code she is written by persons with disabilities because who knows better what works the best when the people who would be using the spaces. I know in Canada Gov Building must be assessable but also aren't really because of poor planning and the knowledge of how persons with disabilities will be using the spaces.
You said that you don't have to say you are disabled on the application I've seen it on lots of application forms usually at the end where you pick your colour /nationality It usually says something like do you concider yourself disabled yes/no Are you registered disabled yes/no Which always struck me as odd as 1 registered hasn't been a thing for a very long time i think it stopped in the late 80s (although some councils do keep a list which is voluntary) And 2 why would being "registered" matter I had to leave my last job because of my disability but they insisted I "get registered" I never found out why when I told them it wasn't a thing anymore they were upset so I joined the voluntary list showed them the proof and then they were happy very odd (it can't have been proving I am disabled they had seen other proof of that plus the council didn't want any proof to join the list) Im sorry you have run in to problems I'm sure you will find something that fits
I believe you don't *have* to tick the box. But if you don't. The laws that protect people with disabilities, would not protect you as you may not have ticked it. With regards to the job you had to leave, I feel they wanted some proof that you had a disability for insurance purposes. :)
Great video, although I'm disappointed your experiences have been so negative. I wonder if some kind of program to put disabled people into workplaces for a job trial, where they can provide education and feedback to the company as to how they can be more accessible would help? Although I feel that would then bring up an issue of expecting disabled workers to work for free or at a reduced rate, which isn't okay.
Here in the US, my beautiful sidewalk is now filled with hand rails in front of every house to prevent wheelchair people from riding off the sidewalk and fall into the small drainage opening, and if you do fall, you'll fall on green grass 6 inches below. I have never once seen a wheelchair person on any sidewalk in my neighborhood, not one time ever. It's an eye sore for the whole city and only to benefit the very few who can't control their wheelchair to stay on the 5 feet wide sidewalk.
Please don’t get my wrong. I know there are some incredibly successful disabled people out there. In this video I wanted to explore the barriers that I have faced, and discuss if it’s as easy for disabled people to get a job and progress, compared with an abled bodied person. What do you think?
Wheelsnoheels - Gem Hubbard I’ve been trying to get a job but the only places in my area that are ‘entry level’ are fast food/food service and every single one told me that I wouldn’t be able to work there cause you need to be standing for ‘saftey reasons’. Even when I told them that I could get up and walk around as long as I am able to sit ~80% of the time they were like “We’d rather not hire you and get someone who’s legs work.”
Just a thought. How about police support staff. You are computer literate, compassionate, intelligent, organised. Taking calls from members of public with the need for assistance. Non emergency or emergency. Creating reports etc. They don't care if your in a wheelchair, won't even notice!! They jjust need bums on seats to deal with the onslaught everyday. Some forces have termtime only workers so you work your hours when school in session and have term times off. Police officers can do this you would have to look into that, I'm not sure of the rules. Shifts also available. Part-time aswell. I did it for 10 years before I became ill, or did the stress cause it Ha!!!
When I got a doctors note for being able to use a stool at work, my rheumatologist I've seen for 10 years warned me that if I can get by without it might be better. I was absolutely furious until he explained that some employers use doctors notes as excuses to nitpick and find non-disability related things that they can add up to then fire a disabled person so they dont have to deal with it.
Hes rather proud that I can work full time in a field he thinks is difficult for a person with my condition, and was afraid that my work was going to find some way to get rid of me so they dont have to deal with me. Apparently it's happened to many of his patients that are willing and able to work in the past.
I have cerebral palsy. While I am not wheelchair-bound my gait is affected. The best way to describe it is that I walk with a limp. My disability is very visible and the second I walk in to an interview I feel judged a lot of the time. Even though, I am a medical assistant and I'm very capable of doing my job I completely agree that we are judged based on our disability rather than our qualifications.
Wow what a nightmare! Thanks for this video! I’m a qualified psychotherapist and really struggling to find a job due to accessibility. I can only work part time (1-2 days a week) so that limits jobs too. My first interview was at Relationship Scotland, I called and asked if it was accessible and they said it was. I turned up and they had step, no call button, I had to phone them and they didn’t have a ramp and said we should go to the cafe next door! The interview was great and she said she loved my approach and my attitude towards client work. It sounded like I got the job and she was talking about getting adaptions. I got a call a few days later saying she doesn’t think I should work there because of “the whole wheelchair thing” and when I told her that was discrimination and has nothing to do with the work, she said clients would have issues. Ive been volunteering for 3 years and literally not one client has had an issue with it- they’ve got enough going on, they dont care what kind of seat I’m sitting on. I’m looking to start private practice and reaally struggling to find an accessible space to work from, the majority of practices I’ve contacted aren’t accessible too. It sucks! It’s also terrible how difficult it is for disabled people to access counselling. Things need to change
I believe job ads should include what you should be able to do.
Thats a good idea. And include the access that is in the building etc..?
@@Wheelsnoheels Sure!
@@Wheelsnoheels I believe that accessibility should just be a given. I believe that this is expressed on my web page about Accessibility In Mind. bertvisscher.net/aim.php
9 years ago I had an interview at Hobby Lobby. I was super excited and hopeful right up until the hiring manager came out, called my name, and as I rolled up to him, the first words he said to me in a very disappointed voice was, "Oh, you're in a wheelchair."
I would love to be a chef! And i was doing catering at college but due to my worsening health I need to use a wheelchair most of the time... so now I’ve been refused the course and to work in kitchens... I can cook perfectly at home in my wheelchair! No accidents at all. No burns. 😪
Really liked this video Gem!
I just realised when you mentioned it, but maybe you could do a video on the advantages of hiring a disabled person?
Just like you mentioned: problem solving and thinking in other ways, but more in depth /with additions from you disabled viewers? 😊
Hi, Im so pleased you liked this video, and I think that's a fantastic video topic to have out there. Let me add that to the list.
xx
The first job I had, after I came in for my first couple of shifts I got called in for an impromptu meeting. I was told I was being transferred to a different market where I wouldn't be a part of a team and cut my hours. My boss explicitly told me "You're a fantastic worker, this isn't because you're a bad worker, it's because you're disabled. This is the issue of over the phone interviews."
Excellent video! I’m in the states so I can’t speak to Britain, but I wish that ALL people would listen to us and trust us when we say we can do something or what we need. Your point about making the decision for yourself about whether or not the job was right for you is so important. I think that’s a huge barrier for us, that our autonomy automatically gets taken away by others simply because we’re disabled, like you experienced in the coffee shop.
I’m a wheelchair user, but can walk short distances or up short flights of stairs. In my school we have to do work experience and I got a really good placement at a graphic design firm (like my dream job). My careers advisor spoke to me and said that the place had no lift and was up 4 flights of stairs. I almost turned it down immediately, but I decided to visit the place anyway. When I got there I realised that it was just up ONE small flight of stairs- easily manageable. I was really annoyed with my careers advisor, she purposely exaggerated the situation, because she wrongly assumed that for me, one small flight, and FOUR STEEP FLIGHTS of stairs were the same. :/
I've often wondered if I could ever be successful while also living with my disability. It's frustrating how I don't fit a certain mold of nonstop, high energy so I have a hard time finding jobs and working. I feel like such a failure at work but a failure if I don't work. I used to be able to do all sorts of things before my illness sidelined me. I want to be the hardworking person I used to be...I am just so tired and wish I could go back to who I used to be.
The glass staircase is absolutely real. My cousin has autism, and interviewers make snap judgments about her ability to do work based on her disability. They perceive her slow speaking style as a sign that she's not intelligent, and treat her like a child when she's almost 30 and has the strongest work ethic of anyone I know. It frustrates me, as someone who also has a disability, that people so often think they know more about our ability to work than we do ourselves.
I believe ALL bathrooms should atleast be accessible
We need a glass elevator, like Willy Wonka's. I worked for the Civil Service 1988-95. What they did to me during that tome would now be classed as discrimination. Since I was forced to resign, I have only had one month of paid work - IN 24 YEARS! 😭 I didn't have any real ambition because school never encouraged us to believe we had a right to. Years of fruitless jobsearch led to a breakdown. Now I have very little interest in life because I'm sick of doors being slammed in my face. Amber Rudd only wants to make herself look good because she wants to be the Tory leader. She isn't really interested in helping us at all. Same old Tories. I would not waste my time on her if I were you.
Time, not tome! 😋
It boils my piss when people dismiss the effect jobseeking has on mental health. Of course people making the rules for the DWP have never had to deal with disability and long-term unemployement.
Since I became visibly disabled (I have a degenerative condition that used to be invisible), I have had 3 jobs... That's it. I'm currently unemployed and cannot find a suitable job at this time. Employers don't care about hiring disabled people at all - they want no hassle, no fuss and they certainly don't want to make any adjustments if they can help it.
All the schemes and initiatives in place are meaningless, because if employers don't want to hire us in the first place, the schemes are never used! I've had employers tell me I should "just claim benefits" instead of working, when I'm perfectly capable of doing lots of jobs in my wheelchair. Others have said I should "just do office jobs, like data entry or call centre" work when I have a degree and I'm going back to university this year to complete my Masters, which I'm hoping will help pave the way to my career.
My ultimate goal is to work from home, so I know it'll be accessible, I can control my hours and I won't have to continue facing the crushing rejection of hundreds of employers!
this young lady is so strong and intelligent, she is a great inspiration and I think an excellent roll model for women!(handicapped and non handicapped) believe in yourself and see a barrier as a challenge to over come!
Another problem is that, increasingly, entry level jobs in offices etc are specifying a Degree when they didn't in previous decades. That's no good to many of my generation who were not able to go to university.
I was working in a nursing home for about 6 months when I was fired about a week after letting my manager know I was accepted into the diabetic alert guidedog program. I now have my guidedog but haven't been able to get a new job, not for lack of trying. I now have the safety I needed but no one wants give us a chance, I say us because we are a team he keeps me safe and I love him no regrets.
I don't think employers should make assumptions about disabilities before they even know the person and what they are and are not capable of doing
I believe in you, Mrs Hubbard. You are a wonderful person on Earth. I've never worked for a decent, worthy employer.
(UK)
I'm also a wheelchairer in Vietnam. I think every country is same
Gem, you just put something into words that has been bothering me lately. I’m a college student in America trying to navigate life with disabling anxiety disorder. I have a service dog who helps me when I’m at school. But right now I have to start choosing what I’m going to do for a career and I’m finding that doors keep closing. I don’t mean to brag, but I have academic scholarships, so I guess I’m smart enough to do work even though it’s difficult.
What I really want to do, though, is become a standup comedian who talks about disability and mental illness in a disarming way, but I know that if I do that, I will forever be branded as “mentally ill,” and I don’t know if I’ll ever get a regular job after that. It’s really heartbreaking, feeling like I have to choose between my passion and practicality.
Just wait until the Government tells you you can't hold your preferred job.
I have applied for roles recently and I am worried that the reason I am getting no's back is because I have been honest and told them I am a wheelchair user. I have good skills for the roles I have looked at but no one wants me. I don't want to lie but I do want a job!! It's just so sad!!
Your Starbucks comment made me laugh, I’d just watched you pet peeves video where baristas don’t see you. New to your channel but loving your content.
Maybe we need to start with general accessibility, I've been considering joining a gym, but so far I haven't found one that is suitable for a wheelchair user. I get not everything can be perfect, we suffer from listed buildings and preexisting buildings with problems, but a one floor gym has no excuse for being inaccessible to customers, no disabled changing room is ridiculous.
I'm in hospital at the moment, I'm on a ward in a new building, so everything should meet current building code. On the ward there is a toilet and shower in each bay, they aren't labelled as disabled, but are clearly intended to be - but this is for able bodied and disabled people, people who are unwell or have had surgery. The door handle is at wheelchair height, I can walk a bit and this is close enough for me to walk to, but it's then difficult to get in because the door handle is so low, but then the lock is entirely unsuitable for anyone with a disability in the hands, I can just about manage it. The toilet has fold down grab rails, but is really low, so if you had to do a side by side transfer would be a nightmare. The sink seems to be neither sitting or standing height. The shower was fine for me when I used it but I didn't make a conscious assessment of it. Then the stupid thing is the only bin is a pedal bin, presumably for infection control, I can't use that and clearly others have had problems too as there has been things left out of the bin (gross).
A couple of days ago the toilet was blocked, so I asked where else I could go, which was the other end of the ward, so of I wheeled to go use it, it happened to be in use and after waiting a short time I realised I'd seen visitor toilets just outside the ward, so really close to where I was now (all the toilets inside the ward are labelled patients only), so I popped out to use them, there was a ladies and a gents, no separate disabled loo, I thought maybe it's inside or it's one cubicle that's accessible. The ladies was pretty big, two cubicles, if the doors had opened outwards they would have been just about wheelchair accessible, as it was I couldn't turn my chair around and my limited mobility came in handy as I could hope out of my chair. My guess is these toilets are what the staff use.
It's a huge ward, the staff photo board is huge, 50+ regular staff on this ward, plus bank, rotations etc. there is a mirror image ward and two on the floor below that I think are similar. That's now 200 jobs a wheelchair user can't do. If we can't even build new hospital wards such that a disabled person could work there how can we expect a regular office building to be.
I'm really quite peeved by this, am I not allowed to visit people because of the lack of toilet facilities. I've had so much trouble being a disabled patient, there isn't room for a wheelchair by most bedsides (there is in this ward), so if I needed to direct transfer many times I've had to stay in hospital I would have lost independence I was still capable of using.
Anne Harrison I had to go to hospital quite quickly recently, straight from my doctors surgery. I was horrified that the (standard emergency type) ambulance could not take my manual wheelchair - “there is no way we can secure your wheelchair in the ambulance”, I said I can easily transfer to the standard seats, and take my chair apart and put it on a seat with a seatbelt through the frame/wheels to secure it, they just said there wasn’t any way of taking my wheelchair.
I’ve no idea what would happen if I had an accident or emergency and couldn’t advocate for myself - do they just leave the wheelchair by the side of the road? (...it’s not a fancy one, just fairly lightweight and still cost more than a car!).
Billie.
This is kind of the opposite for me. For years I tried applying for jobs but never mentioned my disability (I'm deaf), and no one would ever call me for an interview. As soon as I start filling out that part of the job application and mention I have a disability, I get phone calls from every direction. But I have learned the hard way from having 9 different jobs in just a few years, that these companies only wanted to make themselves look good for having a disabled person, but treat me like utter crap and refuse to give me promotions or do anything other than stand there. At one job, I was actually going to get a promotion, but then the manager was switched out with someone else and she found out immediately that I have a disability. Took the promotion from me and gave it to someone who won't even do his job, then forced me to stand at the register all day and would not allow me to work around the store despite the fact that I have been doing that way before she came with no problems. Then, despite the fact that I am adult and I need to pay bills and keep a roof over my head, she cut almost all of my hours. I lost my home and a lot of my stuff and was forced to quit school and move back in with my parents. Still pisses me off to this day.
I have been on interviews where everything sounds sooo positive and all... until i mention my arthritis, even if I explain it won't affect how well I can do the work, And with that the whole positive attitude is flushed down the drain and they are mererly being polite during the rest of the interview. I itterarly see the job get wings and fly away, wish in turn have gotten me to the point that I am pretty much the one with most medical problems at the place. But I have the least sick days with zero due to me pushing myself as i don't want to lose the job. And that is not because i fel the pressure from my boss or coworkers but purerly due to bad experiences from those interviews. One of he higher ups have even told me that I get to slow down if I need.
I strongly recommend not mentioning your arthritis, and inly telling your coworkers/bosses after a few weeks on the job. Has worked miracles for me. It sucks to have to hude, but also, they have no right to know your medical history.
MichiruEll Well two of my biggest merits are eight years on the board for the section of young rheumatic association wish regionally covers about half of Sweden and a year on the national board of young hearing impaired association. So it is kind of hard not to mention.
I got sacked when I was pregnant because the company I was working for didn't want to pay me maternity pay, even though it's very illegal to do that. I was working in a nursing home and I was pretty senior. My disability got much worse whilst I was working for them and they were deliberately crap about making things accessible, but subtle enough that I couldn't prove discrimination.
My current job is working for the local authority in family support work. My actual department is great, but I often find that meetings are held upstairs in a building without a lift. These are case conferences that I'm asked to attend, and I always ask them to book the downstairs rooms. Half the time it doesn't happen.
That's definite discrimination. If you resign, you can claim constructive dismissal.
PageMonster If you resign then you’ve made yourself intentionally unemployed and therefore won’t get the help you’re entitled to.
Best to hold on and be sacked then you will have grounds for unfair dismissal.
@@HighTen_Melanie But they will have left you with no option but to resign.
PageMonster We’ll agree to differ on that one. 😉
@@ChrisPage68 But I love the job I do and I want to keep doing it. My boss has been great about me working part time to fit around my daughter, and I've been able to progress upwards.
I don't think it's intentional at my current job, it's just that people forget. At my old job, it definitely was intentional. There's a reason they sacked me before my maternity leave started, and it wasn't related to how well I was doing the job.
I very much enjoyed your video As always Jen. What’s your dream job now? Were you ever able to connect with Amber and discuss disability employment initiative?
I've been on oxygen for three years. I have a ton of chronic illnesses and issues. I tried so hard to work. I didn't take my oxygen to an interview with Joann Fabrics because every other interview I was in they practically started at it. I have a bachelor's in business management by the way. So I was hired as the assistant store manager. Then I ended up in the hospital for about 2 weeks for food poisoning and a kidney infection and then for blood clots in my lungs. I was fired shortly after my return. So then I went on an interview at Wendy's, obviously without oxygen cause you'll blow the place up if you have it in the restaurant. Got the job as a line supervisor but things got so bad my oxygen dropped to 79, I had pneumonia and bronchitis multiple times, herniated two discs and I was just not capable of being off my oxygen that long. So I quit before I would get fired. I'm glad I did because my health has tanked lately. I'm in the process of applying for disability. I got denied the first time (almost everyone does) and I am waiting for a court date. But I can definitely understand the interviewing with a disability. Before joanns I had probably gone on 10-15 interviews and they all just stared at my oxygen the whole time. It's not okay.
I work for the County Council. They have to be inline with legislation. I have found them very supportive but you do often need help. We have networks to help each other and it works well. Just like with women, helping women, us disabled workers need to help each other too. I am a manager. It can be done, when we work together. Also, there is an Add of the DWP website as they want to set up a consultation group. Apply!
Ooo thank you for that x
I have met so many of these barriers. I always have to lie about my disabilities and I am getting tired of it. One of my dreams is to start an organisation called "Disableds rights in society" that I hope will reatch a global position some day.
I hope you do, and I wish you all the luck for that. Ill help where I can.
I have even found with making youtube videos from home, Im at an unfair advantage to a abled bodied UA-camr, You see I have to have help with admin and written things as im dyslexic. I need a carer to come with me if I travel, and I need help setting up my equipment!!
@@Wheelsnoheels If you're able to make the channel financially viable, you could talk to the Job Centre about Access To Work. It could help you take someone on to assist with those tasks whole Shauno is at work.
@@Wheelsnoheels I'd recommend you to try yourself as Software Tester. This job requires from you tons of attention, but the main benefit is that IT sector is opened to people with disabilities. And they don't mind if you'll work from home.
This is something that makes me so nervous about graduating and finding a job. I'm an engineer and so theres the chance I'll need to access labs and workshops, but theres not guarantee I'll be able to. I cant even think of a part time job i could do while I'm studying because I'm not able bodied. I think companies should do everything they can to accommodate disabled people and I think that positive discrimination (eg: having a quota for number of disabled employees) is needed to make a big enough change. I never know whether to declare that I'm a wheelchair user but then I risk not being able to access the building etc.
Fellow engineer here... in 'engineering school' (especially undergraduate degree AKA Bachelors of Science in Engineering) you have a TON of hands-on lab coursework IF your engineering school is doing things the 'right' way -- and this is something that I say from lived experience... and it sounds like you're at a 'good' school =).
I'm in the USA and my disability is NOT mobility-related BUT my engineering career only lasted 4 years BECAUSE discrimination is real and I essentially got chased out of the profession =/ . I prefer hands-on work -- like crawling in and around production machinery -- and after university, I ended up becoming a Manufacturing Engineer that specialized in a highly-specialized sub-discipline. After about 3 years of working, I was being called a "Subject Matter Expert" (SME) -- it was pretty cool because people twice my age we're actually taking me seriously and treating me like a peer. (It was because I was book-smart and 'knew my stuff'.)
As for your wheelchair -- in the USA -- "Affirmative Action", especially with the federal government and federal government contractors is _SUPPOSED_ the law of the land ... except that it gets ignored _all the time._ (I spent my entire engineering career working for federal government contractors AND Affirmative Action failed me so miserably... it's because the corporate oligarchs that rule over us all _just don't care_ about disabled people =/ .)
Something that I did NOT know until I started working as an engineer is that engineering often requires a LOT of documentation. Most engineers are actually what I think of as "paperwork engineers" -- meaning that they sit at desks all day and do paperwork. =) Their engineering degree is what gives them a strong technical background to DO the paperwork... if that makes sense? Product design engineering -type work & most work related to quality assurance is desk work.
As for disability disclosure -- that's an individual choice... my advice is to go with whatever feels right. At the same time, do you really want to NOT disclose from the initial application AND THEN end up working in and environment that is hostile toward the existence of your wheelchair?
Hopefully this helps? If you (or someone else) has any questions for me, feel free to click REPLY and ask them.
I totally agree. There is a glas stair. The world still is not so far that people with a disabillity have the same opportunity to find a job.
Like I told someone, once: "My disability is in my legs, not my brain!"
The only way disabled people will get work is if the discrimination act is made more pro disabled and less pro company that way companies will then have to start looking at the disabled person in a more favorable light. But this will never happen as it is not a BIG THING for the government. I was disabled and put into a wheelchair in 2014 after a 20 year lorry driving job. But i cannot even get a job in a transport office as soon as they know i am in a wheelchair that's it.
I have that feeling a bit I finished my programming degree and after doing 4 years in college I find out about the law in us has act 14 which states that it is ok to pay the disabled less than minimum wage so pretty much if I work I will make less than what I would now on ssi
Hi it’s very hard out there and there should not be a glass stair case in way
job centres don’t help much
Tried keep my job but was pushed out
Keep posting your videos there so help full
Does the UK not have laws regarding discrimination in hiring? If this happened in Canada, they would have been setting themselves up for a challenge.
I really want to work but as soon as people find out I’m disabled they won’t hire me
I had to leave my job as they wouldn't let me continue as a wheelchair user without a looooooooooong and tedious health and safety assessment and I didn't have time before I graduated to do it. lol
At uni i couldn't do work experience because of the severity of my disability meaning i needed access to work and it wasn't available for work experience. I need work experience to be able to get a job. 🤦🏻♀️
I got my first job by not saying i was disabled but my illness got worse lol
Maybe get someone to call and enquire seperatly be something I would do . IV been a vepyed for a dream job they fully new my limitations were fine with it ... Then after 12 weeks extended my probation and eventually let me go ...for the very reasons they knew I had difficulty with and accepted at start.
Next job again knew couldn't do stairs or lots of overtime.
Fast forward a few months ...need me to do stairs not fair in other staff dentists missing my messages on computer system so need to go up and tell in person ...so rather than getting other staff to check system I was to miraculously run up and down stairs all day ! Then added overtime ... Bye next job ... Im now too sick to work but one day I'll find a job I can do ! I volunteer for now instead
I think that all new building must be wheelchair/ disabilities assessable and that the building code she is written by persons with disabilities because who knows better what works the best when the people who would be using the spaces. I know in Canada Gov Building must be assessable but also aren't really because of poor planning and the knowledge of how persons with disabilities will be using the spaces.
You said that you don't have to say you are disabled on the application
I've seen it on lots of application forms usually at the end where you pick your colour /nationality
It usually says something like do you concider yourself disabled yes/no
Are you registered disabled yes/no
Which always struck me as odd as 1 registered hasn't been a thing for a very long time i think it stopped in the late 80s (although some councils do keep a list which is voluntary)
And 2 why would being "registered" matter
I had to leave my last job because of my disability but they insisted I "get registered" I never found out why when I told them it wasn't a thing anymore they were upset so I joined the voluntary list showed them the proof and then they were happy very odd (it can't have been proving I am disabled they had seen other proof of that plus the council didn't want any proof to join the list)
Im sorry you have run in to problems I'm sure you will find something that fits
I believe you don't *have* to tick the box. But if you don't. The laws that protect people with disabilities, would not protect you as you may not have ticked it.
With regards to the job you had to leave, I feel they wanted some proof that you had a disability for insurance purposes. :)
Great video, although I'm disappointed your experiences have been so negative. I wonder if some kind of program to put disabled people into workplaces for a job trial, where they can provide education and feedback to the company as to how they can be more accessible would help? Although I feel that would then bring up an issue of expecting disabled workers to work for free or at a reduced rate, which isn't okay.
Is this from 1973?
Hmmm
Never thought about that
I'd love to tell you my story about employment
School never believed in me.
???
#disableproblems
Here in the US, my beautiful sidewalk is now filled with hand rails in front of every house to prevent wheelchair people from riding off the sidewalk and fall into the small drainage opening, and if you do fall, you'll fall on green grass 6 inches below. I have never once seen a wheelchair person on any sidewalk in my neighborhood, not one time ever. It's an eye sore for the whole city and only to benefit the very few who can't control their wheelchair to stay on the 5 feet wide sidewalk.
I do think disabled people shiould be able to get a job who do I talk to about this
Women, disabled people,
Shes really pretty!!! She can get it!!