Accessibility and Archives: Working while disabled - Part Two
Accessibility and Archives: Working while disabled - Part Two
In this, the second of two blogposts about how the workplace impacts disabled workers in our sector, Philip Milnes-Smith from the Accessibility working group of ARA’s Diversity and Inclusion Allies curates testimony from anonymised contributors. These are presented without additional commentary or analysis beyond noting that there seems to be room for sectoral improvement. The Accessibility working group would like to take this opportunity to thank all the contributors.
It is again important to state at the start that disabled people are not all alike. It is certainly not true that the experience of one represents the experience of all. But it would also be wrong to suggest that any one experience is an outlier anomaly from which nothing can be learned.
Employment Witness 3
I have a permanent job working within the heritage sector. I feel ‘lucky’ to have a job, let alone a job that I love. I imagine that many people feel the same when landing a permanent job that is well paid and stable. However, through the lens of a disabled person, feeling ‘lucky’ is bittersweet and problematic. At my most vulnerable, I have woken up in a cold sweat wondering if I was taken on as box-ticking exercise as the 'token disabled person’ or a last resort choice. I worry whether my work-place adjustments will be honoured if organisational circumstances change and question whether my disabled status will make me invisible to future promotions and development… I can currently say that I have a supportive, emphatic and willing to learn Manager who enables me to bring ‘my whole self’ to work, however, the only guarantee is that change is a certainty.
In reality, there is a contentious undercurrent that as a disabled person, I need to work harder to be seen. It’s not enough for me just to be, there is an unwritten subtext that I need to fight for not only myself, but for others within the community to have those doors open, even it’s only ajar. The inconvenient truth is that if we leave to the profession at large, there will be a never-ending cycle of hand wringing navel gazing, followed by self-congratulatory backslapping that everything in fact is fine as it is and we are all nice people.
It’s exhausting! Society doesn’t want me to be ‘a drain', but in the same breath doesn’t want to really know or understand that I need adjustments to help me to get a seat at the table and contribute. Without support, when others are just about to reach the finish line, I’m still to get out of the starting blocks.
It shouldn’t be the case of a lucky roll of the dice as to whether you get an understanding manger/HR/Occupational Health that gives you the key to unlock the door to get a seat at the employment table. For instance, have you ever noticed that many equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) projects are pushed forwards by a passionate member of staff? How often has that work been continued when that staff member moves on? I can make an educated guess that it is vanishingly few. Why?
Without a supportive culture, driven by strong leadership, committed to meaningful change, EDI is nothing more than a 'nice to have' tick box exercise. For things to truly advance, we need to have more representation of disabled staff at senior leadership who have the power and platform to lay bare the reality of lived experience. In doing so, burst the bubble on the self-perpetuating feel-good myth that if you just work harder then you will get there too.
Senior staff have a pivotal role in ensuring that disabled staff are not used as used a pawn for organisational self-promotion and superficial engagement. It’s too easy to blame ever decreasing budgets from actually tackling inequality- effectively placing the problem back onto the disabled community to work that big harder and solve the issue themselves. The truth is, are you really building a resilient organisation if you continue to promote a culture that excludes a large section of potential talent and expertise? Is it morally justifiable to be in a power of influence and position to continue the status quo whilst looking the other way?
Employment witness 4
The effect of an undiagnosed condition, along with the diagnoses of depression and anxiety has hindered my progress in the archives field. Here are the reasons why;
Telling a prospective employer is a worry, if you don’t have the ASD diagnosis to prove it, (and then what?). ‘Mental well-being in the workplace’ is often just a tick-box exercise, and not a priority
The Archive sector relies on budgets, funding etc., and needs ‘go-getters’ and ‘trend-setters’ to achieve high goals. There is just no place for undiagnosed hidden disabilities, in a competitive world when seeking employment. The youngest, loudest, and most social-media savvy thrive, along with long-term, established staff, and there is no space for anyone who falls short of the mark. I found my social anxiety increases in crowded, or pressured situations, and this exacerbates my other behavioural issues (due to the ASD), and the big-budget Archives workplaces have not been conducive to my serenity. I don’t like public speaking, or open-plan offices or staff canteens with harsh lighting and background noise. How do you tell your Millennial colleagues, you don’t relate to them? In general, how do you function in a workplace where one false move (or simply having to familiarise with the technology while rewiring a ‘neurodiverse’ brain) will have you replaced instantly? If you do not fit in, then you are expendable, and you can get out right now. This is what happens when you are contracted by an agency into an archive for a certain project.
If you have a hidden disability, (undiagnosed ASD and its attending mental health issues), and are older and less technologically speedy, then your ‘neurodiverse’ stressor buttons will certainly be pushed, as your neurodiversity adapts to a new social situation. Especially when your colleagues have no understanding of you from the start.
Contributions to this series are welcomed, particularly if you have experience of working in the sector as a disabled person. If you are interested in contributing to a similar anonymised post, in the first instance, please email diversityandinclusion@archives.org.uk .