related pages

on our site

news

Home page
> Ability at work > Case studies used in this toolkit
‹ Previous page

Case studies used in this toolkit

Janet’s story

For years Janet had been dealing with a spinal injury to her lower back that left her in chronic pain and often unable to work full time hours. Her condition had meant also that she tended to take a lot of sick leave. As a result she often had trouble keeping up-to-date with developments in her work. Limitations on her capacity to type as a consequence of the injury also meant, she thinks, that people tended not to see what other skills she had to offer and didn’t understand the contribution she could make.

Ironically, things got worse for Janet before they got better. An accident in a lift at work gave her a new spinal injury in her neck and aggravated her lower back problem. Her employer put in place a structured rehabilitation programme, appointing a rehabilitation officer who worked with the employer’s case manager, treating doctor, and workplace to develop a solution that included

• a proper ergonomic assessment of her workstation and the provision of appropriate equipment
• the provision of voice-activated software to help deal with her reduced capacity to use a keyboard
• allowing her to work reduced hours to help manage her pain.

Now Janet says that she feels that she is a respected and valued member of her team, and enjoys the work she does. At the same time, her team members have become more aware of the fact that different people have different needs and, of course, have the benefit of working with someone who's happy not to be in constant pain.

Chronic back injuries are among the most common forms of disability in the Australian community. Even so, many people in the community don’t understand this or often believe that back injuries are somehow ‘not real’, that people with them are just looking for a hand-out.

Janet’s case gives the lie to such preconceptions. Throughout all the difficulties she has kept working, and with the assistance of her employer is now making the contribution she was always capable of.

Barry’s story

Some disabilities are hidden, or are relatively common medical conditions that many of us don’t think of as disabilities at all.

Barry was diagnosed a dozen years ago as having repetitive strain injury to his hands and wrists, which affected him not only at work but also in activities outside of work. This is a huge problem when, like Barry, you’re working as a lawyer in an APS agency, and can’t carry out your duties because they involve a lot of keyboard use.

Luckily, the general practitioner who he consulted was experienced enough to recognise the problem straightaway and also had some experience in what could be done to overcome it. The general practitioner told him to approach his employer to provide him with technological and other assistance to try and deal with this problem and to allow him to carry on with his work.

The solution in this case has been to use voice-recognition software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking since 1999, which has allowed him to keep working. In Barry’s case, the new hardware and software that he was supplied with was funded from a central budget maintained in his agency rather than from his branch’s budget.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking has worked very well for me and I would not be able to do my current job without it as I would not be able to manually type all the documents/produce all the text work which I need to do as part of my current job.

Being able to use this software means that Barry can keep working productively without depending on other staff for help.

Mike’s story

Mike’s story illustrates the point that it’s some times the small, less obvious things that need to be thought about carefully. Even where the immediate working environment for someone with a disability lets them get on with their work, that’s only part of the story. Work is about more than sitting at your desk, and a broad perspective about reasonable adjustment is necessary if people with disability are to enjoy the things that most employees take for granted.

Some years ago, Mike was diagnosed with Familial Spastic Paraparesis, a degenerative condition that causes progressive weakness and spasticity in the muscles in the lower body. People with this condition generally go from difficulty walking to needing a walking stick and eventually to using a wheelchair.

In 2001 Mike started in his current agency, using a walking stick to help his mobility. His manager organised disabled parking when he started employment. As time passed and his condition got more difficult, he needed an ergonomic chair and an adjustable desk, both of which were provided to him. By this stage he also had to use a walking frame for mobility and, as time passed, he had to start using a wheelchair.

Things became a little more complicated, especially when he moved to a new office.

The conditions at the new location were less than satisfactory. As Mike describes it:

The deep pile carpet was lovely to walk on but like trying to push through sand in a wheelchair; the disabled toilet had no hand rails, no soap and no towels.

The hot water tap was too high to reach from a sitting position (this resulted in having to request someone to make me a cup of tea after I scalded myself trying).

The doors were difficult to open as they were heavy and required me to hold the handle and try to propel myself backwards to open the door then negotiate past the door before it closed on me.

Some of these things were addressed by moving Mike to another floor that had been partially modified for another employee in a wheelchair.

After about five months Mike was moved again. The new location had no disabled toilets on his floor which meant that he would have had to go outside to the car park for toilet facilities. After he objected to this Mike was moved to the floor above the rest of his team which, inevitably, meant that he tended not to be included in team discussions even where they affected him directly.

When he had to attend meetings he sometimes found that the toilet facilities were locked, or that the designated disabled toilet was not wheelchair accessible (the doorway was not wide enough) or the hand rail was broken or the toilet facilities were down stairs with no lift facilities.

While Mike’s situation is still not satisfactory he’s hopeful that it will be addressed properly in the new building that his agency is developing. He has been asked to participate on its access study — looking at ways to improve access to the building and its facilities by people with disability — including the

• design of hot water taps and other tap handles
• location of card readers on automatic doors
• size of disabled car parks (to allow proper wheelchair access)
• design of cupboards to allow wheelchair access to sinks to do washing up.

One of the other things he’s found is that many people, including his employer, aren’t aware of the other supports that are available to assist employees with disability.

It was by sheer luck that I found out about the mobility allowance2 that supports people with disability in their employment and who can’t use public transport easily. The same is true for the GST exemption that I get on car parts and purchase.2 Hardly anyone seems to know about these and I wish they were publicised better.

Lily’s story

Ever since Lily was a small girl she has been dealing with the effects of her hearing impairment.

Her particular condition is unusual. While most people with hearing impairments hear something in a distorted way or not at all, Lily’s condition affects the way sounds that she hears are processed and interpreted, and can often change some sounds for others or create new sounds altogether.

For example

• she can be listening to someone speak and they will sound as though they are speaking another language, or
• someone can walk past her and she'll think they've whispered something, or
• she can see someone's lips move and know they are talking but only hear the fan that is blowing in the background.

One of the major issues that Lily has faced is trying to explain her condition to others. Even some medical specialists have found it hard to understand the nature of the condition.

The fact that Lily has been dealing with her disability for almost all of her life means that she has developed a wide variety of strategies. In her experience she has found that the most effective approach is to disclose her condition to the people she deals with regularly and let them know the best approaches for interacting with her.

The strategies that Lily uses at work to deal with the effects of her disability are a combination of experience and common sense, such as:

• checking with her colleagues whether she has heard something correctly, sometimes finger spelling it just to be certain. As she says: this gives people the opportunity to tell me if I have misheard a letter and then I can guess what the word is
• positioning herself in a room so that she has a better chance of hearing and so that she can read a person's lips while they speak
• after meetings, talking directly to people to confirm that what she thought happened in the meeting is the case.

Probably the bigger issue is dealing with the telephone, both understanding people who are calling her but also, before that, knowing whether the phone that’s ringing is hers or someone else’s. Phones can be adapted with a flasher for this purpose, but Lily hasn’t asked for one yet, and most of the time she can work out when the phone ringing is hers. Apart from that, Lily often encourages people to deal with her by email.

One of the most important things for Lily is the fact that her colleagues know how to work with her effectively

…when people know I have a hearing impairment in the public service, they seem to know what to do… Not many people realise that talking louder will probably exacerbate the problem, that it is more important to speak clearly. If I am having a particularly bad time with my hearing, people who are aware of my hearing issues will generally revert to email as the preferred form of communication because they know I find that easier and a lot less stressful. They will also know to get my attention before speaking to me and to not turn away from me or cover their mouths.

Jo’s story

Jo works in a senior role in a small APS agency. She was born with her disability: cataracts in both eyes mean that she has a significant visual impairment that often makes it difficult for her to read text in some forms and that, in turn, often left her lacking confidence in unfamiliar situations early in her career.

In my early career, I felt that I had to prove that I was significantly better than anyone else… to make up for any perceived stereotypes about my abilities as a visually impaired person. Now I am much more confident in my skills, my abilities and my personal qualities, I do not feel I have anything to prove, and that I can be judged on my experience and my achievements.

With developments in technologies, and changes in attitude over time to her disability, Jo has succeeded in her field. Her situation now can be compared with her early career when, although she was working as a psychologist/counsellor, she often had difficulty accessing jobs because she didn’t hold a driver’s licence and some employers were not willing to consider simple alternatives—such as letting her take taxis.

Now, says Jo, the adjustments that employers need to make for her are essentially routine, and she’s never had a problem getting the right technological support in the APS. This has mainly included technology like a larger than standard monitor and text enlargement software.

Other things are also easy to manage. For example, in meetings

• where there’s a PowerPoint presentation she can participate fully if she has a hard copy of the slides
• it often helps her if people say out loud what they’re writing down on white boards as they go.

It’s not all perfect, however:

It comes down to the awareness of individual people and their willingness to accommodate individual differences. At the end of the day, I do miss lots of information that is presented visually, and I have to make up for that with my memory, my analytical skills and often extra reading.

Tracey’s story

Tracey is a senior manager in a regional office of a Commonwealth agency. In 2003 she was approached by Jobsupport,²¹ a disability employment service provider, to see if her agency could take on a placement with intellectual disability for a limited period of work experience.

Tracey met with Jobsupport and discussed whether there was scope within her agency for such an initiative and how this might be approached. She knew that there were a number of tasks that weren’t being done properly within her organisation because, even though they had the capacity to undermine the core business of her organisation, they were seen as being of low status. For example, the failure to attach critical documents to files often led to meetings being adjourned to the frustration of all parties.

Tracey felt that if these tasks could be bundled together they could form a job for a person with intellectual disability and would free up other staff to concentrate on other tasks, with an improvement to both efficiency and morale. She also knew that if there was an impact on productivity i.e. if the placement wasn’t able to work at a standard rate, she could use the Supported Wage System to pay an appropriate wage rate.

Jobsupport agreed to

• search their client database to find a suitable candidate
• provide a trainer on the ground in the agency to learn the duties and then train the employee in them, including the social behaviours that we often take for granted (e.g. where are the kitchen facilities, where are the toilets, should I join the coffee club and how does that work)
• after the training period, i.e. at the time that the placement was competent in the job, have the trainer remain in contact with the agency and continue to provide support on an ‘as needs’ basis.

After a short period Jason, a young man with intellectual disability, started work in the agency: delivering mail, doing trolley runs, putting files away and delivering them, and a selection of similar tasks.

The experience worked well for everyone concerned. Jason was in paid employment and visibly gained personal confidence and social skills. From Tracey’s perspective

Helping Jason to reach a level of competency became a project for the whole office and there was definitely a ‘feel good benefit’ for all of our staff.

After Jason completed the work experience we were so happy with him and the way it helped our records staff to perform other more complex tasks we employed Jason as an ongoing part-time employee at the APS1 level.

He’s still there today, still making his contribution and helping get the work done.

Vince’s story

Vince has spent years working with people with disability in the community as a Disability Carer.

Tragically, a few years ago one of his clients, a young man with an autistic disorder, died suddenly. Vince had worked closely with the person for some time and was deeply affected by his death. At the same time he felt that he and his co-workers didn’t get the support that they needed from their managers. He felt that he had become isolated and his emotional state deteriorated quickly to the point that he wanted to leave his job.

Since then Vince has been diagnosed with, and had to deal with the effects of, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The effects of PTSD for him have included

• excessive anxiety and anger toward his workplace management team, peers and medical professionals
• difficulty in his personal life through excessive pressure brought into the home environment. Among other things, he lost contact with many friends and family members who could not associate with ‘such an angry man’
• health issues relating to substance abuse as he attempted ‘self-medication’
• loss of self confidence, inner drive, self-worth and sense of identity
• loss of his ability to work in chosen field of personal care for people with a disability.

Vince has continued to pursue his career in the public service, and has been promoted on several occasions. Each time he chose to disclose his disability during the selection process and discuss how it affected the way that he works. Mostly it doesn’t affect his work at all but, while he has made good progress in the last three years, he still needs regular leave to see his counsellor.

Each time that he’s changed job he has needed to discuss his situation and leave needs with his new managers, to explain his rehabilitation requirements. He’s also had to take some leave to cover his involvement in the coronial proceedings surrounding the death of his client. Being able to discuss his situation openly in a supportive work environment has been crucial.

His rehabilitation has also been helped by the active involvement of his doctor and his counsellor, who helped to design his rehabilitation programme. Setting up a network of support people, something that Vince did by himself, has also been helpful.

As for himself, Vince reports that this experience has made him

… a very understanding person regarding external and internal pressures that affect someone’s ability to work effectively, and due to my openness about the problems I have experienced I have been approached by individuals looking for a similar recovery process. I also realise that I have been an inspiration to some people—I have been seen to cope with high levels of pressure in the workplace despite the internal issues and have given some people the courage to persist despite the fears.

Michael’s story

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to always have laryngitis? Probably not, but for Michael that’s a recurrent part of his life.

Michael is an APS employee with Spasmodic Dysphonia. In simple terms this is a dysfunction of the larynx (or voice box). It means that usually his voice is fine in the morning but fades during the day, especially those days when he needs to talk a lot. There is no cure for the condition, but there is a treatment available which involves having Botox injected directly into his larynx.

As Michael puts it

I have had good and not so good managers in respect to managing my condition. My current manager is aware of the difficulties I often experience in being able to speak in a strong and clear voice. It often sounds very strangled and requires people to listen intently to what I am saying.

My current manager and I have worked on some hand signals to help assist such as when a meeting gets rowdy with lots of small discussions going on and I need to make a point for all to hear I will use the “T” sign for time out and my manager calls the meeting to order so I can be heard. I also try to limit my talking to short bursts rather than long lectures.

Michael and his manager have worked together constructively to develop simple and effective ways to deal with his disability in the workplace. Like most people with disability, the changes necessary to accommodate his disability in the workplace have been minor.

Antonia’s story

Antonia is a hip disarticulation amputee—her leg has been amputated from the hip—and uses a wheelchair in the office.

As a person with disability in the workforce, her biggest challenge so far has been finding an employer who was prepared to give her a go.

Prior to winning her job in the APS she had been actively seeking work for several years. Although she had used that time to improve her education and update her skills, she felt that her disability posed a problem with prospective employers.

Of course none of the employers said this, but people give quite a lot away with body language and attitude. I wouldn't tell my prospective employers about my disability until gaining a face–to–face interview as I found when I did disclose information I would not get to that interview.

Off I went to these interviews with the positive thoughts of making my future employers as comfortable with my disability as I was. Knock back after knock back until I found myself at a real low point in my life and could have easily thrown in the towel sat on the lounge and collected disability support pension for the rest of my life.

Antonia started to make real progress towards her goal of employment when she signed up with CRS Australia. With their encouragement she began to apply for jobs in the APS.

While she wasn’t immediately successful at finding an ongoing job, and even missed out on one selection round that involved a very large field of applicants, her performance was good enough for her to be invited to apply for a non-ongoing role in her agency. This time Antonia was successful.

I jumped at the opportunity and was successful; I was on top of the world. I have since moved on from my original role and have become an extremely happy ongoing employee and am grateful that my agency is an equal opportunity employer.

I have been employed since May 06, and loving it, I might add.

Deborah’s story

Deborah started her career in the APS in 1971. Since then she has found that her co-workers and team members have been very supportive when she has needed their help to manage the impact that her cerebral palsy has in the workplace.

She started with her current agency in 1991, working in a small regional office, after staying with her first employer for twenty years.

Some of the things that have been done there show the benefit of lateral thinking to help accommodate her disability. For example:

• · when her office was refitted she was nominated to go on the refit committee to make sure that the refitted office would be accessible for her as well as the agency’s customers with disability
• · her agency supplied a normal wheelchair to get from the basement carpark to the office which saves her from having to lift her chair in and out of the car each day
• · her agency also paid towards an electric scooter that she uses at work during the day around the office and to go out in at lunch breaks
• · her agency set up her work station with her own printer/copier to save her having to get up and down to the other printers, as well as providing an electric stapler and special chair
• · her co workers help her get forms and other documents to hand out when she’s conducting a client interview.

Changing job and moving was a huge step for Deborah to take 

… considering I was leaving my comfort zone in Sydney and moving to a country town and a totally new employer, but I was given the same respect and if it were possible more assistance than I had received with my previous employer.

In saying that I think it was because people realised that I didn't take more help than was necessary and gave back where I could.

Kate’s story

Kate is an employee of a large Commonwealth department and has a hearing impairment. Most of the time it’s not a problem for her in the workplace, and she and her colleagues work together effectively.

Recently, however, she has had some difficulty dealing with IT staff in her agency about computer problems: when she sent them an email asking for help they would often telephone her to discuss her problems even though she had indicated that she had a hearing impairment and asked for them to respond by email.

Even though she has some hearing, these calls caused problems for Kate because she often would have some trouble working out who she was speaking to and what they were calling about, and couldn’t hear/understand enough to be able to answer questions and follow instructions. As a consequence, the issue was often only partly resolved or not resolved at all.

Sometimes the people calling her were aware that she had a hearing impairment but phoned anyway.

After one particularly complicated and frustrating issue came up, Kate approached her agency management and explained the situation to them. She suggested that:

• · a dedicated person within the IT section be appointed to deal with communications with hearing-impaired staff
• · this person should have a clear speaking voice so that issues could be handled over the phone where possible
• · this person have access to Microsoft Communicator (a software package that allows users to conduct real time conversations via text) so that communication could take place that way where necessary.

This approach was adopted within the agency and Kate reports that it has been very successful for her.

Karen’s story

Karen has been a quadriplegic since a diving accident when she was fifteen, and has been working in the APS for almost ten years, including in a team leader role in her agency for the last 6 years.

Overall, she says that her experiences as a person with a disability in the Public Service have been positive but there have been some difficult times over things that should have been easy.

For example, the back of her wheelchair broke which meant that she had to go into the city to get it repaired. First, however, she came into work to rearrange coaching for her team before taking care of the damage.

Somewhere along the line some wires got crossed. Instead of being granted personal leave—which is what would have happened if she had, for example, broken her leg—to go to Melbourne to get it fixed, Karen was asked to take this on recreation or flex leave. It took a week, including getting advice from Head Office, before personal leave was granted. 

Karen felt that she was not being treated in the same way that other staff were, that she wasn’t valued or her situation understood properly despite having worked in the same place for so long. It was a small thing, but it should have been dealt with properly and quickly.

Even so, Karen says that her experiences as an employee with disability in the APS have been positive overall.

….overall my experiences have been positive, and the issues that do arise can be dealt with using a little common sense and awareness of the issues.

Australian Public Service Commission   A-Z index   Privacy, legal & copyright   Contact us
This page can be found at www.apsc.gov.au/abilityatwork/studies.htm