Saturday 5 January 2013

What does working mean to me, a head injury survivor?

Disabled Benefit Scrounger!
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I am currently unemployed.
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I want to work.
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David Cameron, Theresa May, Chris Grayling all think that I need to be incentivised to work.
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As a counterpoint to that, I think that in reality the UK Business Community needs to be incentivised to let me work.
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Let me explain that to you.
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In 1991 I tried to do too much and ended up in a car crash suffering a very severe head injury as a consequence.. After an initial 6 weeks where I was "not there" I started my recovery. All the way through my recovery I held onto the belief that I was going to make a 100% recovery and that defined me. I wasn't disabled.
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Within 10 months I was back at work, much to my Doctors disgust. At first I am sure I was a challenge but went through a gradual rehabilitation program and over 3 months became productive again.
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Productive but different. After my accident my IQ still registered in the top 5%of the population but my memory recall was in the bottom 5%. Also, I was, as they say, "easy to wind up". As is common in Traumatic Brain Injury I suffer from behavioural eccentricities. My problem was that if somebody "played politics" with me the red mist descended if I interpreted their games as a personal attack. After a couple of slanging matches with colleagues which did me no good at all I worked out that the only way to deal with this was to keep my counsel which worked at junior levels.
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Also, I do not "play well with the other children". My brain injury effectively puts up a wall between me and everyone else. I have little or no empathy. I find it difficulty to relate to people in social situations and I can very easily say inappropriate things. Unfortunately, work is also a social situation!! Not disabled but weird!
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I returned to BG after my accident, which I had whilst at work, and they tolerated me for 5 years. But the first chance they got.......
My directorate was being wound up and we all had to apply for jobs in it's successor. There were more than enough jobs to go around! So, despite me being brain injured and disabled British Gas tried to make me redundant.
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Having convinced them of the error of their ways and getting myself  retired on the grounds of ill-health, I commenced a glittering career via PricewaterhouseCoopers which ended up with me as a very successful FC/CFO of a Billion Dollar Aircraft Leasing Company in Abu Dhabi till 2008.
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However, the higher you go, shutting up and keeping your own counsel becomes a less and less valid tactic. Especially, when other "operators" in the company pick up on your lack of political "games playing" skills.
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When I left BG they retired me on the grounds of ill-health as I effectively convinced them that my inter-personal skills deficit made it very difficult for me to secure appropriate employment. Sadly, since 2008 that has been the case. Before 2008 I would argue that my natural ability, charisma and ability to "bullshit for England" got me by.
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Since 2008 there has also been a change in me. Pre 2008 I firmly believed I wasn't disabled and approached life with that belief. Since 2008, when I believe my disabilities became a limiting factor in my career I have accepted and embraced my disabilities. That doesn't mean I let them define me and they don't stop me doing anything (badly!!).
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Yet, I believe that if my disabilities weren't  (and I hadn't kept them well hidden) I wouldn't have had the opportunities I have had.
Does that make me a traitor to disabled people?
I think not, because I didn't hide or deny my disabilities - I just didn't discuss them unless I was asked. Surely, my experiences would reinforce the message that the disabled are very able if you can see past the disability?
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The effect of that was that to other non-disabled colleagues I was different and eccentric but when it came down to the job I was "better than the average bear". Try Googling "Ian Jones TATA Oasis" to see some of my work.
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My catch phrase on Twitter is becoming Disabled People Need Equality of Opportunity, not just Equality of Treatment. What do I mean by that?
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I hate interviews. Equality of Treatment means that everybody gets interviewed in the same way. The Recruitment Department with their large budget would argue that the outcome of the interview process is that the best candidate gets the job. The interview process I generally come up against, involving social interaction and memory tests (Competency Based Questioning), I believe weights the process against me. I would go so far as suggesting that it would be like selecting the team for the Olympics (Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Gymnastics, etc) by seeing who ran the 100m quickest. Horses for courses.
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Does my inability to interview consistently well mean that I am unable to do the job? No.
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Does my social skill deficit mean I can't do the job? I would argue no. Would people need to make allowances for me. Sometimes yes, although very rarely.
Is there a precedent for this? The Law, I believe, guarantees Physically Disabled people physical access to work. Shouldn't it also guarantee people with Cognitive/ Mental Health Disabilities/ Learning Disabilities access to work?
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Therein lies the a major factor in my continuing problem.
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I do not look disabled!
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People do not think I am disabled because I don't look disabled. I am just weird!
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People generally in my opinion do not make allowances for that which they can't see.
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Until the Government, Business and some of the Disabled Charities act to allow the skills and talent that are undoubtedly present in many, many unemployed disabled people to be put to fulfilling and productive use, they are guilty of ignoring an underused resource in the UK labour market.

3 comments:

  1. wow (pun intended) no comments?

    Okay. First comment for you. :) Hi, I found you via Dom's petition. He has your link in his email updates - I signed when it was trying to reach 100,000 and have been following ever since.

    I have a close friend brain injured in a car crash. She's had her own battle. I'm sending this link to her. (sent already actually)

    I have health issues that make my energy levels fluctuate and my memory too. I can be great now, maybe useless in an hour's time. Yep, I'm unemployed. Nope, I'm not registered as disabled, although the job centre once recommended that I try that. I think they were just sick of seeing me!

    People don't fit tidy beurocratic boxes. Each case is as unique as the person involved. I'll shut up there or I'll end up ranting.

    Good luck. I'll be back to share, sign whatever needs signing, etc.

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  2. Hi, I'm Michelle's friend the TBI survivor. I worked for a gas utility company in New Jersey (USA) for 26 years. After my head injury, they figured if I looked the same, I was. Whenever I asked them to ease off, they added a ton more work. I finally had a nervous breakdown in 2008 and I'm now on disability.


    I know what you're going through. I hope things work out for you!

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  3. Unless the disability directly affects the person’s productivity at work, there should be no reason for it to be a reason not to be hired or to continue doing his share. That being said, opportunities for advancement should not be denied if the said person performs admirably. It is not a sign of weakness to put a disabled person in a higher position if he has the ability to do so.

    Erminia

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