Technology can remove the physical barriers to a disabled person
building a career in IT, but managers and colleagues often need
convincing. Roisin Woolnough talks to three disabled ITers about
their experiences
When Paul Holliman gets into work in the morning, he turns on his
computer, logs onto the network, checks his messages and sorts out
his tasks for the day. Pretty much what everyone does in fact.
There is one big difference between Holliman and your average ITer
though - he is blind, and has been from birth.
This hasn't stopped the 44-year-old from pursuing a career in
IT. A senior support specialist at the Government's GCHQ
communications centre, he is the first registered blind person to
get the Microsoft Office User Specialist qualification at
proficient level - and he is preparing to sit the expert exam.
Lack of sight isn't the only obstacle Holliman has had to
overcome in his progress up the career ladder. There is, of course,
the issue of how other people perceive him. Holliman says people
often have lower expectations of anyone who has a disability and
will automatically give the more challenging, exciting projects to
someone else. "I have felt in many instances that there was a
feeling of 'we had better accommodate this blind person' rather
than thinking that I could make a real contribution," he
explains.
And perhaps worse still, a lot of people assume that disabled
people have low expectations of what they want out of life and
their job.
This can make it hard for disabled people to motivate themselves
because they feel that employers and colleagues don't expect them
to excel or be ambitious. "It is very easy to feel that you're not
worth the same degree as other people," says Holliman. "This has a
knock-on effect and it is easy to feel that you can't be bothered
because you think people don't want it anyway."
The recent Disability Discrimination Act promotes good practice
among employers. Part of this means employers treating disabled
people as they would any other person, whether it is at the
selection stage or once the person is in full employment.
Holliman says having a good manager makes all the difference.
"Good management is all about spotting potential," he says. Just as
your average able-bodied ITer is keen to learn new skills and get
more responsibility, disabled ITers don't want to be stuck doing
the same role day-in day-out with little prospect of promotion.
Same as with any other member of staff, employers should be trying
to progress the careers of any disabled people they have working
for them.
For Holliman, it is only recently that he feels he is working to
his full potential. In fact, a few years ago he thought his days as
an ITer were numbered. "It was when we migrated to Windows. At the
time there was very limited access technology on Windows and it was
very flaky," he says. "A lot of my time was spent rebooting my
machine, which kept crashing because Windows wasn't stable.
"I ended up doing a lot of things differently to other people in
the office, with them using Windows-based applications and me
having to use Dos versions. It was very demoralising having to do
everything differently to everyone else. It basically knocked me
out of the job and I thought that's the end of my IT future."
In the end, Holliman decided to go into project management, but
didn't enjoy it. "It bored me. I like tinkering with machines
rather than two-hour meetings."
His break came two years later when he was offered a role on the
helpdesk at GCHQ, and by this time access technology for disabled
people had greatly improved.
Holliman says his job was made much easier after he enlisted the
help of AbilityNet, a charity that assesses the IT needs of
disabled people. What happens is that someone from AbilityNet
visits the disabled person and works out what equipment or
adjustments they might need. In Holliman's case it was things like
having a very speedy screen reader with synthesised voice
output.
George Ransome, a systems administrator at Triangle Computer
Services, has also benefited from contacting AbilityNet. Ransome,
24, suffers from Friedrich's Ataxia, a degenerative disease that
affects his balance and co-ordination. He has been in a wheelchair
since he was 16. AbilityNet advised him to use a smaller keyboard
and a tracker ball.
Ransome says having the equipment to work as quickly as everyone
else and being in an environment where his input is appreciated has
made a huge difference to his life. "I've got the option to be on a
par with everyone else," he says. "I don't see anyone as different
from anyone else and I don't want to be treated any differently
from anyone else. It is brilliant when people come up and I can
help them. I don't want people saying 'oh there's that poor
disabled guy'."
Peter Dunn, 44, is a classic case of someone whose problems have
been exacerbated by not being able to work with the appropriate
technology.
Currently unemployed, Dunn went on a 13-week placement at a big
software house earlier this year. As a sufferer of Parkinson's
disease, he finds it hard to operate fiddly equipment. When he went
on the placement, he found that he was expected to fix laptops. "It
was all tiny notebooks and screwdrivers," he says. "I'm alright on
PCs but when the PC jobs came in that I could do, they just
wouldn't give them to me. They let me fumble around. When they
found out that I couldn't do it very well, instead of moving me to
something else, they just kept me there.
"One of the guys I was working with said to me one day 'NVQ -
what does that stand for? Not very quick.' I only stayed there for
10 weeks because my nerves were so bad and it made the Parkinson's
worse."
Dunn says he has met with a lot of prejudice about his
disability and thinks it is the reason why he is unemployed. "I
went to a recruitment agency recently and the guy was very chatty
because we're both Australian. At some point during the
conversation I said to him 'I've got to be honest with you mate,
I've got Parkinson's'. He just shut off and said there wouldn't be
any work for me."
You can have all the access technology in the world, but if
someone harbours prejudices about disabled people, it can be very
hard for the disabled person to overcome them.
In many cases it is not a malicious prejudice that prevents a
person from doing their job or finding employment, but a matter of
not realising that disabled people can be as ambitious as the next
person. For Holliman, it meant the difference between just having a
job and feeling like a valued team member.
"It's not just a case of them finding me work I can do, but I'm
a valuable member of the team," he explains. "It has made me feel
much better about myself and that I contribute something. You feel
that people learn to respect you as you, not just as the blind chap
in the office."
Useful contacts
- Christine Goldsmith, BCS Disability Group:
01245-242950
- Disability Rights Commission: 0845-7622633