Sophie is a newly qualified children’s nurse who works at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and has dyslexia and borderline personality disorder. In this podcast, Sophie focusses more on her mental health than dyslexia, as she feels there is still a greater lack of awareness and stigma around mental health than physical health issues. Sophie discusses her reasoning for why she disclosed/declared her dyslexia to her colleagues, but only disclosed/declared her borderline personality disorder to Occupational Health. Sophie and Kerry talk about equality of access and how the work of WDES and others facilitates inclusion and support for disabled staff through Trust action plans, and relate this to the support Sophie has as a newly qualified nurse, and how good communication underpins this. 

Marce is a medical secretary at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, and has osteoarthritis throughout her skeleton, as well as other significant disabilities. She set up the disability and wellbeing network there when she joined the Trust and found out there wasn’t one in place and describes how Covid-19 has promoted a greater connectivity amongst staff with disabilities in both welcoming new staff and responding to existing members. Marce and Kerry discuss the importance of electronic staff records in ensuring employers are aware of the needs of their staff, the importance of the WDES metrics as a push for Trusts and NHS Health organisations to publicly declare how they score on the 10 measures, and how they ensure staff are supported through reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010

https://www.facebook.com/BSUH-Disabled-Staff-Network-584413908739981 (facebook for the BSUH DSN Group)
 
https://twitter.com/BsuhStaff  (Twitter)

Justyna is a Speech and Language Therapist, working as part of a Community Learning Disability Team for Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust. Justyna has very recently been identified as autistic, and describes how she had grown up thinking she was ‘odd’, ‘awkward’ and just needed to ‘try harder’, but is now redefining herself in positive ways as a neurodivergent person. Justyna and Kerry relate the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists 5 standards of practice in ensuring equality of access for clients with disabilities to the 10 metrics in the work of WDES for staff with disabilities, and discuss reasonable adjustments to common workplace issues. Understanding an autistic brain https://neuroclastic.com/2020/04/02/guide/?fbclid=IwAR2EYiq-8F_3hCIfK3y0cYlJTt9XYzE-fxOKQ0fB0_sQ_75226cFDyjK4bE Five Good Communication Standards is the name of the document Justyna couldn't recall. 

Inayah is a Nurse Associate, and currently a student nurse on an APEL pre-registration course, having progressed from Band 2 Health Care Assistant. Inayah relates to Kerry the difficulties she encountered studying Sports Development and coaching, the identification of dyslexia in her final year, and how an initial difficulty in accepting this has transformed into a better understanding of how she learns. Inayah talks about her experiences in finding out what support is available to staff with disabilities, in accessing it, and how she, her manager and colleagues have been able to integrate this in her workplace so she can work most effectively. 

Hen is a school nurse and an ambassador for the School and Public Health Nurse Association (SaPHNA) and describes themself as neurodiverse. In this podcast, Hen and Kerry talk about the importance of how people identify themselves, of awareness training, of how reasonable adjustments are defined by the Equality Act 2010 and put in place at work to promote accessibility and staff retention.

Aliyah works as an Occupational Therapist for Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH). In this podcast, she discusses how her dyspraxia can affect her communication and how she processes information, the reasonable adjustments she uses, as well as the importance of staff being open about disability, and how she is supported by her disability and wellness network.

Twitter - Aliyah_OT 

Gilly Lee is a regional lead for the Chief Nursing Officer’s BME Advisory group, and neighbourhood lead for Manchester Local Care Organisation, and a Queen’s Nurse. Gilly discusses how attitudes to, and disclosure of, dyslexia and dyspraxia have changed over her 30-year career in the NHS. Gilly describes how diversity of thinking patterns is beginning to be seen as an asset and sees her dyspraxia and dyslexia as a ‘superpower’ of divergent thinking. 

In this podcast, she advocates for disclosure/declaration of disability in driving data-based change in NHS staff representation and workforce equality standards, and describes how those who work in health and social care should be in the vanguard of greater inclusiveness and how this creates a more responsive and effective service.

Ian is Head of HR Business Partnering and Employee Relations at South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust and is currently engaged as a lead for specialist HR projects. Ian has multiple complex physical health issues, as well OCD and anxiety and depression. Ian discusses feelings of vulnerability in disclosing/declaring physical and mental health issues, and the common tendency among those with disabilities to over-perform, and of having to manage the resulting fatigue and exhaustion. Ian talks to Kerry about the work of different Inclusion groups, the equipment, support and training available through Access to Work, and how senior managers can make a difference to patient care through supporting the needs of staff. 

South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust website - https://www.secamb.nhs.uk/