Leaders/colleagues view on disabilities

Worriedmum3367

Hi,

My son has cerebral palsy with spasticity and dystonia and is a manual wheelchair user and works full time. He loves and enjoys his job. He works in Customer Service and does a lot of pushing in his wheelchair to support customers resulting to getting calisis on his hands and tired. His leader says to the team “keep on the move” which he does because why is his hands in a state and tired with pushing. His footrest broke at work last week and no one asked if he was ok just piling tasks onto him when it happened. Why are leaders/colleagues like this?

Regards

Worried Mum

MW123

@Worriedmum3367

Your son sounds incredibly hardworking and committed to what he does. I’m certainly not defending the company he works for, as it sounds like his current situation is far from ideal.

However, sometimes, though, people simply do not see what others are going through, not out of unkindness but because they genuinely do not realise. If someone appears to be managing, even if it is taking a toll, others often assume everything is fine. It is not always a lack of care, more often, it is unintentional unawareness.

That is why it is so important that your son raises these concerns with his manager or HR. Hopefully, once the impact on him is clearly explained, they will better understand his needs. More often than not, people are much more willing to help once they see the full picture.

Hopefully, things will start to improve once the management and his colleagues understand how much more difficult things are for him. I must say, he sounds like a truly remarkable young man.

Lucy_Scope

Hi Worriedmum3367,

I am sorry to hear your son is experiencing such difficulty.

As people have mentioned, it would be worth your son speaking to his manager about his disability. This article may be useful about how to have these conversations.

Best wishes,

Lucy