Dealing with it

After 14 months without work, he didn’t say he was deaf on his CV

Ken Briggs, ACIOB, is deaf. He obtained his HND in Building from Liverpool Polytechnic in 1971 and is a site manager with over 30 years’ site experience, currently working for Wirral-based main contractor Felton Construction.

But not only is he a site manager, he is one of the best. He is very proud of being elected ‘best site manager’ in 2003 by Chester City Council. The competition involved eight local authorities in Cheshire District’s Built-in Quality Awards Scheme. He is currently running a £1.4m project to refurbish and extend a sports hall at Woodford Lodge High School in Winsford, Cheshire. Ken’s award made a significant contribution towards Felton’s being awarded the project on a partnership basis. The project is on schedule and due for completion on schedule in July, despite several major variations including asbestos removal.

So how does Ken manage? He is diagnosed as being close to profoundly deaf. His speech is fine, but he relies upon lip reading to understand what other people are saying when face-to-face. Tradespeople and staff are very supportive, and take a little extra time to make sure that things are clearly understood. He does not use a hearing aid and cannot use sign-language. The fax is used extensively for written communication. Colleagues find a radio message pager is quicker, more reliable and hassle-free method of delivering short messages than texting by mobile phone – all they need to do is phone the BT operator with a verbal message, which is then converted into electronic written format and delivered within seconds. ‘Typetalk’ is indispensable for telephone ‘conversations’. This is a small keyboard known as minicom, to which a BT operator types the caller’s message and the outgoing message is spoken through the handset as normal. He does not use email or the internet at present.

Learning to cope

Ken has two main difficulties; the first is meetings when several people break out into conversation at the same time. But he copes by checking with his contracts manager later to make sure nothing important was missed. The second is when someone needs a ‘severe talking to’ over the telephone, and in that case there is always a colleague from head office who will give a supporting hand. Safety for himself is no problem – he does not feel disadvantaged by not being able to detect noise as a warning in a potentially dangerous situation; for example he cannot hear the reversing beep of the fork-lift truck. Ken feels he has a ‘sixth sense’ to compensate for the loss of his hearing, and he certainly uses his eyes to the full. At the end of the day Ken feels he is probably more tired than other site managers (who are ready for squash courts immediately after work!) – it does take extra concentration watching people’s lips all day especially when meetings or training courses are involved.

Ken’s biggest disappointment was being out of work for fourteen months in the mid 1990s. He was made redundant alongside many other colleagues from a major UK contractor. When he applied for jobs he decided not to reveal his deafness in applications, but when he showed for interview he could see the faces of people on the other side of the table drop immediately he walked in the room. This is despite companies having ‘all the dresses in all the sizes’ - Investors in People, Positive about Disability and even Chartered Building Company status. Interviews continued out of politeness. But no job.

He did get his break eventually, and has now been with Felton’s for six years. He would worry for people on site who have mobility or sight disabilities, and thinks they might not be able to do his job on their own. He finds he has to be physically fit to have to be running around site and up and down ladders all day. His tip for anyone else in a similar situation – work doubly hard at the beginning to establish yourself in a company, stand your ground and then people will respect and work with you. His tip for any employers contemplating employing a deaf site manager? “Do it.”

In his spare time he leads a ‘normal life’ – he does not mix with other deaf people. Like lots of people in construction – at weekends ends he likes to do construction, but on a smaller scale this time, just DIY work and especially hard-landscaping.

‘Some employers act as if depression is contagious’

Rob Hayles is Business development manager for M Holleran in Derbyshire. He obtained an HND in Building from South Bank Polytechnic in the early 1980s and started his career as a trainee with Wimpey. Subsequently he has been mostly client based, having worked for Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust, Portsmouth City Council and also spent six years in India. He has two disabilities; temporary immobility and depression. It is the immobility that is causing him most difficulty at the moment. It was caused initially by playing football last September. His Achilles went on his left leg and a short while later his quad on his right, thus losing mobility in both. After several operations he was able to walk with the aid of crutches.

In terms of work, he was freelancing to a local authority (LA) at the time, and while staffers made all the right noises, the LA appeared to be nervous about letting him back into work in case it became involved in a workplace injury claim. Coincidentally, all work dried up shortly afterwards, and Rob found himself unemployed. He was particularly frustrated. As he says: “You will do anything to get back to work to earn your wage if you do not have a salaried position.”

He is now able to walk unaided, albeit with a severe limp. Finding a new job in construction has been difficult, especially because he can’t drive for the time being. That is his biggest problem, he says.

Mini risk assessments

M Holleran, Rob’s employer, has expertise in civil engineering, but wants to develop its building arm further. He was in a good position at interview since he knew the company well, acting as a client to it in his previous LA role. He is based at a regional office, and when he needs to visit site, Holleran provide a driver. The spin-off from his disability is that he is constantly doing his own mini risk assessments, and he has developed an obsession with planning that permeates all his work. Moving across rough terrain on site can be difficult, and he may have to take a long route. He does not time-limit or rush himself on site – his safety is paramount. Clean and tidy sites, with much attention paid to waste management are preferred. Going up the ladders is fine, but coming down involves too much risk. He cannot carry things upstairs. Rob feels that as an individual you need to find your own limits and test them in a safe environment. If he is doing survey work, he can get down onto one knee, but cannot get up again if he goes down on two. A mirror on the end of a stick helps to cut down on bending. To avoid misplacing things, he finds a tool belt useful for carrying as much equipment as possible. There is lots of digital gadgetry on the market that assists him, too. While some of this can be expensive, he has found Holleran very supportive.

Rob gives examples of excellent help received from colleagues, but he cites other disabled people who say that goodwill and sympathy ‘lasts for about 14 days’. If there are tasks to be done that you cannot do physically, a job-swap system is fine providing that the disabled person does a job which is at least as time consuming. Rob observes that society needs to be careful not to go too far for disabled people, lest we have a system that teaches helplessness.

His depression tends to come and go. He did tell his current employer at interview and is grateful for the understanding that he received. He is aware that some employers and colleagues would act as though depression is contagious. Finally, Rob says he has to look after himself, because no one else will. Sure, he lacks the ability to do some things, but Rob doesn’t see this as a disability. It’s more of a challenge.

Colleagues take deaf awareness training for Tony

Tony Pike (MBIAT) has worked in architecture since 1978, starting with Penwith District Council and then moving to Penwith Housing Association (PHA). He is now a senior architectural assistant. He has experience on new build, refurbishment and maintenance projects up to £1m in value. Tony’s job includes providing architectural and surveying services and project managing work executed by other parties.

Tony is also hard of hearing/deaf and relies on lip-reading. He can communicate with others very well, with the exception of using the telephone. He is able to chair smaller meetings successfully, but in larger meetings he finds it difficult to follow what is being said. In some cases his manager has arranged for someone else to take the minutes, and at the beginning of a meeting he will explain the need to speak slowly, face to face and avoid multiple conversations.

His employer understands his difficulties and recently implemented an Equality and Diversity Policy. Tony’s workplace has been assessed previously, but advances in technology prompted the personnel manager to arrange a further assessment through the Access to Work Assistance by Jobcentre Plus, and his specific needs have been assessed and solutions recommended. The staff of PHA will be taking Deaf Awareness training to enhance their understanding of the disability. Tony would recommend all of these to other employers as examples of good practice that have helped him.

Tony’s best tip for people like him is to get assessments, such as Access to Work, carried out at the time of employment. “These facilities were not available when I started my career in 1978.”