Anyone who is an employer or works in recruitment?

[ElsewhereinSunshine]

If you were sent an email, CV or job application form from a person who haven’t left a phone number that they can be contacted on.
On the CV, job forms, etc. states that the person can only be contacted through email.

What do you think if there is no phone number? Why do employers/recruitments ignore emails if the person insists to be contacted through email only? Do you not think there may be a reason that a phone number may not be available?

Thanks for the answers it is helpful to know more. I didn't realise that access to work gave money for adjustments. In the spirit of continuing my education in this area can you explain a bit further?

We have a job that involves answering the phone, reception tasks, writing letters and minuting meetings. Would access to work pay for someone to help a deaf person do this? Would they be full time matched to my employee? I can't quite envisage it in practice.

@itsboiledeggsagain There can be some adjustments made, here are examples from website links:
www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=6074
www.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments-for-disabled-workers

There are deaf people that are able to do these jobs if they simply just need an amplified phone for example, some people have a roger pen which is a "Handy microphone for various listening situations. Roger Pen can be conveniently used where additional support is needed over distance and in noise and features Bluetooth® connectivity" (www.phonak.com/uk/en/hearing-aids/accessories/roger-pen.html). Some people lip read so they may need a note taker for the minuting meetings which could be provided by access to work. The person may need a T-loop system in a room.

Access to work will not have someone to do all the jobs for the person with a disability/condition as that is not acceptable at all.
Access to work can also provide awareness of a person's disability, there is lots of information, I have put links above for you to read.

I only know one person with moderate hearing loss who has someone to assist to make some partial phone calls throughout the day, such as, 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon as the person does not need assistance for phone calls all day long.

I haven't heard anyone who have assistance to do phone calls all day, I am not sure so I can not advise on that? @FFSeverynameisused @Comefromaway do you know more about this?

@ElsewhereinSunshine

To echo what the OP says:

Access to Work is not for paying someone to do the deaf person's job, it is for paying for support for the deaf person to do the job themselves.

In my case for example - Access to Work pays for a Roger Pen which helps me to hear better (but not MORE, v important distinction) in meetings, it pays for an amplified telephone and it pays for an electronic note taker to type what is being said to me in larger meetings.

The note taker is NOT there to take minutes. she is there to help me communicate, not to help anyone else. Minutes can be created from the note taker's transcript but that is up to the deaf person and should not be expected of them.
I have a great note taker who refuses to hand over her notes to anyone but me and when people say "oh don't type that" she ignores them. So watch what you say - if a hearing person can hear it so should a deaf person. She even types people saying "the weather is really shit today isn't it"

If you have other people in that meeting, why not get them to take the minutes. That's a reasonable adjustment that is free.

If someone has a sign language interpreter, they can't watch the interpreter and take notes at the same time.

Access to work can pay for deaf awareness training for colleagues of a deaf person so there are ways in which it could benefit the wider organisation.

Access to work can be used for other disabilities, eg counselling for someone with mental health problems, dyslexia software, text to speech software, adapted keyboards, loop systems, special signage, easy read for those with learning disabilities and much more.

But someone from the DWP will come out to make an assessment. This is important to consider because you can't just say "I want an interpreter" if there are alternative better options for that person.

It can take months to come through, but it can be backdated. So the employer might have to pay initially but will eventually get the money back.

The sooner the application is made the better.

Access to Work can also cover the cost of support in job interviews.

It is the applicant who applies for A2W though not the employer.

HTH

@itsboiledeggsagain

Sorry the last post was for you

Also wanted to ask, that Access to Work does not need to be full time.

Using the job you describled, here's my thoughts:

minute taking - cheapest and easiest option is to get someone else to do this. you could ask the deaf person to do so using their notetaker transcript (but be prepared for a refusal!). alternative is to get 'speech to text' software via access to work and this could be used to create minutes.

telephone - depending on level of deafness, this could be resolved with an amplified phone via Access to Work although most amplified phones are £20-£70. You could also purchase a textphone or a video phone although you may need to install a new direct telephone line for the deaf person. You could install NGT lite on the person's computer and give them a headset. No cost for NGT lite although it could be dependent on the type of computer you have.

reception tasks - can be done without any support if it's just meeting and greeting, and the person lip reads.

writing tasks - again dependent on the level of deafness, most hearing impaired people can write and read without help.

In summary, I don't think you'd need Access to Work support full time, or for a full day. You'd probably need to sit down and work how much time on each task so you know when the support worker would be needed, but you might not need a support worker at all.

Hi @ElsewhereinSunshine I have never seen a CV that listed a disability and I probably wouldn't expect to. It is the sort of practical information needed to ensure that interviews are set up properly but should play no part in the screening process.

It is terrible that you have been treated badly in the past, I would be tempted to email them back after a week to ask why they haven't got back to you. I'm assuming you aren't applying for jobs in call centres so they need to change the recruitment process for you, otherwise they are breaking the law.

OK that is really helpful thanks. I guess we would make some adjustment to make calls, allocate minutes to another doing the role, and then give them more letters /reports to offset that.

It really helps to have a practical example.

So my next question is whether deaf people (or those with other disabilities) manage to progress to more senior levels. I fear not which is why I am asking.

short answer is very rarely and very rarely is there a good reason for it.

long answer would be a very very very long rant that mentions my use of lawyers, union, tribunal etc....

@FFSeverynameisused Thank you for explaining more thoroughly about Access to Work. I do not have much experience with ATW.

@Magenta82 Thank you. No I wouldn't apply for jobs like a call centers. Yes next time I will email them to say why they haven;t got back to me.

@itsboiledeggsagain

That's good to think about reasonable adjustments, I like your example you mentioned. You could also add other tasks to the job spec such as checking more letters, etc.

Also a reminder, some people lose their hearing later in life, so they are quite able to do the same things they used to do, they may just struggle with the hearing more with groups, phones etc.

I am sure there are people who are deaf/with a hearing loss are quite capable to progress into senior roles with reasonable adjustments and clear expectations of what it is expected of them. The job spec could be adjusted over time to meet the person's needs and to check their capability of completing the tasks with reasonable adjustments and support.

"So my next question is whether deaf people (or those with other disabilities) manage to progress to more senior levels. I fear not which is why I am asking". What made you say this comment? have you experienced this before or why do you think people with a disability couldn't progress onto senior roles with the right support and adjustments in place? If your workplace is a call centre, then people who are deaf/with hearing loss will probably avoid these kind of jobs.

No, my reason for asking is that we have once had someone with a disability apply for our admin type role (not call centre) but never in all my recruitment have we had someone apply for a more senior role - say 35k - under the GIS scheme. It made me think about progression, especially if people don't access our more junior roles.