Member Article

My mate Jonny

I was thinking about my mate Jonny from school the other day. Jonny had been born with a condition that meant he couldn’t straight his legs.

Do you remember when two people would pick their football team at playtime. Who did I always want to pick first. It was Jonny. Why? was it because I felt sorry for him? - no. Was it because he was my best mate - no. The reason was that he was fantastic at taking penalties. He had a shot like a rocket ball.

You see the thing is that often we look at people who are labelled as disabled and think well they cannot do this, that or the other. The truth of the matter is very different. Especially when you get to talk to them and ascertain their strengths and weaknesses. Lets’ be honest we all have strengths and weaknesses/things we cannot do, we are perhaps just a little bit better at hiding them.

So what has this got to do with employment law Tipster? Well under the provisions of the Equality Act the general spirit and intention is to ensure that disabled people are not put at any disadvantage to those who do not have a disability. An employer is also under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to the workforce (where they are aware of a disability) to ensure that the person can perform their contractual duties. I do not really want to bang on about the law in this tip but suffice to state:-

• Get alongside those people who do have an inability to perform certain tasks, that may be as a result of a disability.
• Give them the respect they deserve.
• Think about alternative ways in which their work can be undertaken.
• Document a game plan as to how you are going to put the plan into action to help them.
• Keep the situation under review.
• Like Jonny everyone has their talents, it is just sometimes they are not automatically recognised.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gibson .