Transcript
Ivy Jensen
Welcome to Talking Water with GMW, where we discuss all things water. December 3 is International Day of People with a Disability. And this year's theme is not all disabilities are visible. To discuss the theme and how workplaces can become more inclusive, we are joined by GMW All Abilities Network members Lisa Franke, Paul Bruce, and Donald Hughan. Our web website houses all the previous episodes of the podcast. There are some great topics there, so be sure to check them out after you have listened to this one.
So today we're discussing inclusion in the workplace as part of International Day of People with a Disability, which is on December 3. So Lisa, I wanted to start with you. This year's theme for International Day of People with a Disability is not all disabilities are visible. So what does this mean to you?
Lisa Franke
I think this is a really important theme. It's really good that we are educating people that not all disabilities are visible. A lot of people think that they're physical things that you can see, but in fact, they're not. And a lot of people still have to change the way that they operate and work to be able to be fully functional in the workplace and at home, even though they've got a non physical disability that's not visible. People automatically think that all disabilities are physical, but in fact, there's a range of disabilities that aren't, and also that some disabilities can be temporary. So you can have an injury or have a procedure, so you're not showing any signs of that disability at all. But you have to learn how to accommodate that when you're coming back into the workforce or at home.
Ivy Jensen
Yeah, that's right. And I think that's important to realize too, especially with what we've been through the last few years. Mental health is also considered a disability. Did you want to talk about that?
Lisa Franke
Yes, that sounds good. So I've been a long term sufferer of mental health, so I suffer from chronic anxiety and depression. And I must admit I didn't consider that to be a disability until I spoke to other people that are in the GMW All Abilities Network and they sort of mentioned that, yes, that is considered disability. So I joined the network and I found it to be really, really beneficial. Things that I really struggle with with my disability is to the motivation to get up in the morning. So I find that really hard. I can get really tired, I can lose concentration at work, get very easily distracted, and then my mind sort of wanders and I'm off doing something completely different. And I can be slower to complete tasks too, because I'm actually a real perfectionist. And that's the issue where I never get to the perfectionism that I want, so therefore I don't think I'm valuable and all that sort of stuff. So I found Goulburn-Murray Water to be very supportive, being really lucky and just things like where you can't plan what's going to happen so you might be fine and then just something that you don't even realize triggers you. And the next day you're in bed and you just don't want to leave the house and Goulburn-Murray Water are really supportive with their leave. And also the fact that I can do flexible working arrangements so that I start later in the day because I am not motivated to get out of bed in the morning. So work has been able to work with me in that. You can have days where you don't want to be around people and you just want to be by yourself to concentrate and do your work. But I find that I also like to be in the office because I like to be connected to people. So it's strange because going through COVID, I really miss being in the office and getting that connection with people. But then there can be the days where I just think, no, this is a no people day. I want to be home, I just want to be by myself. And work gives us that flexibility.
Ivy Jensen
Thanks for sharing, Lisa. So Donald, on the other hand, you have a visible disability, which is spina bifida. Would you say that makes it harder or easier when it comes to experiencing more accessible or inclusive workplace?
Donald Hughan
In a way to experience a more inclusive workplace, having a visible disability I would say would be easier, because there's a lot of people out there that particularly the ones that have an invisible disability, it takes a lot of courage to be able to identify as having a disability, because there's always that fear of my work. Colleagues are going to look at me in a different way and all those kind of things. So for me, having a physical disability that people can see, I think it's a lot easier on myself, but also a lot easier on my workload because I can see where my barriers are and they can help me address them if that's what I need to do.
Ivy Jensen
Yeah. Would you say there's not as much of the stigma associated with the physical disability as opposed to, say, mental?
Donald Hughan
Yeah, you're right there isn't. That's why we're going to try and get out that not all disabilities are visible not all disabilities are physical? We d have mental health and mental health. It is a disability and a huge disability. So there is a stigma where people look at that as to say, well, that person is weak. That's not the fact, they just have a disability. You need to overcome it.
Ivy Jensen
Yeah. So, Paul, you have dyslexia, which is described as a learning disability that affects skills involved in reading, spelling and writing. Decades ago, dyslexia was actually thought to be an intellectual disability and people were actually told they wouldn't amount to much. What do we know about it now? And how have you proven that wrong?
Paul Bruce
Well, good question. When I went to school, there wasn't as much known about it and so you were told, you're dumb. Sit at the back of the class, leave school as quick as you can. Nowadays, people know a lot more about it. There are different methods of learning that you can adopt now that weren't there years ago. Office 365 has got a talk back text system. There's various other tools that you can use to assist you with all sorts of learning difficulties and stuff. Dyslexia doesn't just sit into reading or writing, though. It can be speech, it can be all sorts of things.
Ivy Jensen
So when you were first diagnosed, or when you first discovered you had dyslexia, did you sort of put in place your own processes of how to learn? Or was it the workplaces that you were at?
Paul Bruce
Back when I first found out that I had it, there wasn't a real lot of information around about it. They called Mueller lenses. There were different sort of lenses that you could wear to assist with reading. However, they were fairly sort of prominent. They were big lenses and there were different colors and stuff like that. So you copped it for not being able to read, but you copped it for wearing the glasses. Didn't work, but people tend to fit into jobs that accommodate that. But nowadays it's different. The jobs will accommodate you for various things like it.
Ivy Jensen
Yes. What about GMW?
Paul Bruce
I think it's making great steps forward towards all abilities, not just dyslexia, but we're working on ramps for all of our offices at the moment and disability facilities for a lot of our storage areas where we've got disability access, barbecues and all that sort of stuff coming on now. So it's really good. It's not making things easier for one group and favoring them or anything, it's just putting a level playing field out there. Just because you can't do a specific thing because of the way that you're built, doesn't mean that you can't do everything else if you got a bit of assistance.
Ivy Jensen
That's right. How common is dyslexia, do you know?
Paul Bruce
About 10% of the population. They say it's got dyslexia.
Ivy Jensen
Oh, wow. So in organisations such as ours.
Paul Bruce
We've Got about 50 people in here and probably most of them just get by with it and don't say much but there's ways to accommodate them, to make their jobs more satisfactory and they fit into the workplace better.
Ivy Jensen
Lisa so anxiety and depression is a very common mental illness. You explained the flexible hours that GMW allows you to work to help, but what other supports are available through the organization? Things such as peer support?
Lisa Franke
Yeah, some of the networks that I've actually utilized since I've been in Goulburn-Murray Water and I haven't always been based in Tatura, I've been out in an area office and those abilities and support services are available all through out Goulburn-Murray Water. I found the All Abilities Network to be wonderful because you're engaging and you're advocating on behalf of all different disabilities and everything, and that we're working along with management to make the workplace more inclusive, the amount to moderate things, to be able to suit people so that we get the best out of them. I've been involved with the employee assistant program, so I've utilized that. And at times the beauty of that is it's also available for our family members. So if I'm going through a crisis, my husband can ring up and actually say I need some help and some support to support me. So that's a really really wonderful service and free service would thoroughly recommend that peer support. And I know that they've been really good. They've just recently done a lot of work on the flood recovery. So knowing that a lot of our staff are experiencing problems and issues relating to the floods, whether they're encountering it in their own house or whether they're encountering it in the workplace, that they're actually dealing with those floods.
Donald Hughan
So we've got mental health first, AIDS that are accredited to people in the office. And I wasn't very aware of those, but it was really interesting. I went to lunch not long ago and knowing that I do find it difficult within groups, it was just really nice that after the lunch, when of those first aiders, that just sent me a little message saying it was really good to see you out at lunch and all that sort of stuff. So they picked up that it was a difficult thing for me to do, but they recognized it, so they didn't do that. Do you want to have a chat or anything? It was just something like that. And you thought it was worth the effort going to that because it was noticed that I could go to it and everything, which was really, really good. There's naturally the flexible work arrangements and there's also.
Lisa Franke
Leave provisions as well. So I find Goulburn-Murray Water has definitely been the best place that I've worked in.
Ivy Jensen
That's a really good point too, about your family getting that support as well, because it doesn't only affect you, but it affects your loved ones and your friends and family.
Lisa Franke
Definitely ,and that's especially for people that have temporary disabilities, so the family may not be used to dealing with that. So it's independent support. And you could be also that you've got a family member who's got a disability that you're working with. I'm very lucky because my husband works in the disability support area, so he's really understanding and really good and everything, and we can sort of bounce ideas off and all that sort of stuff. But it's difficult. It's difficult when it's someone in your family. It's quite different if you're dealing with someone from a professional.
Ivy Jensen
Yeah, absolutely. It's great you've got that support at work.
Lisa Franke
I'm really grateful.
Ivy Jensen
So, Donald, what processes and procedures are in place at GMW to allow you to do your job to the best of your ability?
Donald Hughan
So it's probably a lot like Lisa said, flexible working arrangements is a massive thing, particularly for me. Sometimes I also volunteer for the SES as well, so I could be up at all hours in morning or late at night. And flexible working arrangements here allows me to still perform my duties at Goulburn-Murray water, but allowed me to contribute to my community as well. We've also got our waters network as well, so we can go to them and if we've got an issue with anything to do with accessibility in the workplace or anything like that, and they can advocate for us as well. For me, it's having a conversation also with your manager. Be open with your manager, and then there's always supports from their point of view as well that will help you get your task done.
Ivy Jennsen
Yeah. Obviously, access is important to you because you're in a wheelchair. You need access into the building and in your workplace. Has that changed over the years?
Donald Hughan
It has changed over the years. So when I first started with GMW, I started in an area office and that area office didn't have any ramps, so no access into that office. So apart from the front door, there was to the front door, but no staff access from the car park and things like that. So that allowed me to see that , Goulburn-Murray Water, were willing to build that infrastructure and to allow me to be employed as well. And seeing that evolve over time through all of our customer service officers in particular, but also our storage officers, just seeing the change from you can't get in there so you don't go actually for this in place, so you can get into that.
Ivy Jensen
So you were all members of the All Abilities Network. Can one of you maybe just explain what achievements you've made to date and what your future plans might be.
Paul Bruce
Some of the achievements that we've made and some of the plans that we've got in the future. One of the exciting things that we've got planned for next year is to make a video up of the advantages and accessibilities that Goulburn-Murray Water currently provide and a lot of things that we're actually working towards to develop over the next year or two, which will be a really good thing. Some of the things that we have already done, we've done building audits on all of our area offices and storage offices and a lot of our facilities around storages to better provide suitable services for people of all abilities. I've already started to put some of those things into place mentioned earlier, barbecue facilities at some of the storages. They're also working on wheelchair access for people to get in and out of boats into a storages. So that provides more opportunity for people that want to get out on the water as well. Donald, what are some of the other ones that we've done in recent times?
Donald Hughan
There's a handy down to viewing platform for a person near a wheelchair to view the Goulburn Weir, which is really good. We're also looking at over the next twelve months running a series of events focusing on a certain disability and then hopefully that'll take a look within our about what that disability really means and how can we support someone if they're not already in the business but want to come to the business and have that particular disability? How can we support them?
Ivy Jensen
Yeah.
Paul Bruce
One of the other things that we've been working on in conjunction with HR is a reasonable adjustments form for when people come into the organization or people that are already in the organization, and it gives them the ability. To confidentially put forward what their Ailment might be and then HR can work with them to try and make it more inclusive and more accessible for them to conduct their job in the best of their ability, which is a really good thing that HR is working on.
Donald Hughan
In their recruitment process as well. They're looking at embedding some sort of reasonable adjustment where when they organize an interview with an applicant, we'll ask them whether there's any reasonable adjustments they need in place so when they come to the interview they're comfortable and all those types of things.
Ivy Jensen
Very good. So, just wanted to throw back to you all if you have any final thoughts or anything else you'd like to add.
Lisa Franke
Yeah, I'd like to add that I found that Golburn-Murray Water really genuinely cares about making it comfortable for everyone in the workplace. I myself had a complete meltdown a couple of years ago. My manager was amazing and my team were really good, but the HR manager would take the time out each day to touch base with me and check in. Now that's something they didn't have to do but they genuinely care for the wellbeing of their staff. Another thing that we've also done is the visitors signing machine at the front of the office. For visitors to the office now can be raised and lowered to different heights as well. So I think Goulburn-Murray Water is always looking for those opportunities. We just need to find them and actually explain what we need.