Jasmin

‘Government departments are buying software, hardware that meets their needs, but they’re not actually doing it to meet the needs of disabled people. That’s going to be an impact for years and years to come of disabled people not actually being able to do their job.’

Jasmin, late 40s, is vision impaired and uses assistive technology and bioptics – a small telescopic device that sits on her glasses.

She has worked in the public service for many years and told the Royal Commission that people with disability who work there are marginalised.

‘They’re actually not seen as part of the team.’

Some years ago, a new manager decided to change the seating arrangements in the office. Jasmin told them she couldn’t move because of the glare from the windows. The manager ignored her. Jasmin’s desk faced the window and she had to close the blinds. The manager hated the blinds being closed and would make ‘passive aggressive comments’. As soon as Jasmin walked away from her desk the manager would raise the blinds.

Jasmin made a complaint to her director and HR. Her director spoke to the manager who said it was only an issue because Jasmin was ‘an introvert and easily offended’.

‘I was extremely upset about that personal attack.’

A short time later, the department rolled out new software.

No-one in IT had tested the software with assistive technology users.

‘Accessibility requirements are not even considered as part of procurement processes, or even as part of design and development when it comes to software.’

Jasmin couldn’t do her job.

IT suggested she sit at another computer. ‘There’s constant ongoing ignorance.’

Not long after this, the team moved to a new building. They told Jasmin she couldn’t move until they had completed the appropriate disability assessments.

Jasmin ended up organising the assessments.

‘No-one gave a shit, and it was so humiliating.’

When she eventually moved they refused to provide screens to block out the glare.

‘I finally put in a workers compensation claim because I couldn’t work anymore and was too stressed.’

After three months her doctor told her she was fit to return to work, but the workplace refused to take her back. It took a year before she was able to return.

Jasmin moved to a new department but had the same software issues.

She had to attend a training course and reminded IT several times she needed assistive technology.

‘When I got to the training course, they said that it wasn’t installed because there was a personality conflict in the team … At the operational level, you’ve got these fights going on all the time, in every single department, about how security overrides assistive technology.’

Sometime later, the department rolled out software for a new project. They told Jasmin there weren’t enough assistive technology users working in the department to include them in the project.

She pointed out it was a legal requirement.

‘And they’re like, “That might be true, and you can go ahead and lodge a human rights claim.”’

The following year, Jasmin was in a staff meeting. Her supervisor started teasing her about a personal health matter that she had divulged in her security assessment.

Jasmin was horrified her privacy had been violated and lodged a disability discrimination complaint. The complaint ‘went nowhere’.

‘That caused immense distress for me, because it’s personal information that I don’t want in the public domain.’

Jasmin’s most recent workplace experience has been mostly positive. Initially her director refused to acknowledge working from home as a reasonable adjustment. Jasmin made a complaint to HR and this issue eventually resolved.

‘In order for me to keep my job anywhere, I had to go through these [complaint] processes and it’s changed, fundamentally, who I am as a person … I now have significant anxiety.’