Summary
An accomplished Gloucester woman has spoken out about the prejudice people with disabilities face when trying to get a job and wants a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham to tackle the problem. Lorna Carter, 55, who has a long track record in advocating for other people and an extensive CV, said she was shocked by how she was treated in a job interview recently.
Details
She has won awards for her support work but has struggled to secure a new job as her contract with her current employer comes to an end and the role is made redundant. Ms Carter hasn’t got a bad word to say about her current employers who have “gone above and beyond” in providing reasonable adjustments.
But her “humiliating” experience in an interview with a prospective employer has motivated her to speak out about the discrimination many people face. She is not naming the firm at this stage as she takes the process through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, the free, independent public body that helps resolve workplace problems.
But she believes employers must do more and discrimination against those with a disability may be one of the reasons why the nation’s welfare bill is so high. The UK’s total forecast welfare and social security spending for the current financial year is expected to be around £353 billion “It has been a nightmare,” she said. “It’s a job to get a job.
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So far she has applied to 18 different posts without success. “This is my experience of the reasonable adjustments law. They just don’t care, they are not interested.
“They set you up to fail. I’ve sat in an interview where they didn’t give me reasonable adjustments. They didn’t give me the right chair, and humiliated me.
“They criticised and mentioned I have crutches. [The interviewer’s] words were ‘well, how are you going to manage going into people’s homes, because you won’t have an office chair there?’ “I’ve done support work for years, that’s why I’ve got awards. “I’m quite vocal, I can take things forward.
But what about those people who can’t speak up? “I’m so proud of changing people’s lives and I’m not going to change. But this experience has been shocking.” She also fears people with disabilities are being demonised and is concerned about the impact cuts and restrictions to the personal independence payment will have on people’s lives.
Report source: Gloucestershire Live
