In this issue:
- Why do we have the PDA Ability Network?
- PDA stands up for sitting down at the Pharmacy Show 2024
- Being diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult
- Being a pharmacist and getting FND
- Nothing about Us without Us
- Get involved
- In case you missed it
Why do we have the PDA Ability Network?
The mission of the PDA Ability Network is to enable all disabled pharmacists to realise their full potential and raise their profile by being educationally, socially and politically active.
The network meets around four times a year and is designed to be a safe space where PDA Ability Network members can share their experiences confidentially knowing they will be supported.
The network also looks at areas of concern which members raise and is a reason why the Standing Up for Sitting Down campaign was launched in 2024. It came from a discussion within the network on how members were unable even to get a chair for work to sit on, something that non-pharmacists just wouldn’t believe! As a result, the campaign focusses on the need for employers to make appropriate reasonable adjustments which are regularly reviewed, for a culture where discrimination at work is not tolerated and for members to know their rights under the Equality Act 2010.
In 2025, the network will be focussing on the Oriel system, disability passports, and other issues that members raise.
The network encourages its members to ask their pharmacist colleagues who are not yet members to join here. Allies are welcome!
If you have any questions about the network, you can email them to [email protected].
PDA stands up for sitting down at the Pharmacy Show 2024
It was wonderful to see the support for the PDA Ability Network’s session at the Pharmacy Show 2024 on the Standing Up for Sitting Down campaign.
Liz Larkin, PDA Organiser outlined the campaign’s key asks, such as employers making appropriate and ongoing reasonable adjustments and members ensuring they understand their rights. It also covered the results of a survey carried out by the PDA, which showed that 52% of respondents had experienced disability discrimination at work.
The campaign has 3 asks:
- For members to ensure they understand their rights under the Equality Act 2010 as a pharmacist, trainee, or a student with disabilities and assert these rights.
- For employers to make appropriate and ongoing reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and health conditions, which are regularly reviewed.
- For employers to work together with PDA Reps and active members to create a compassionate culture of dignity in the workplace where there is zero tolerance for discrimination
Being diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult
In 2014, I was diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult. I looked in the mirror one day thinking how did that even happen? How had I achieved what I had, up to that point in my career?
Suddenly, it made sense. Why had it taken me so long to revise for exams? Why would it take me so long to recall information? Being able to articulate this now has felt empowering and knowing what I now know about being dyslexic has helped me adapt to my work.
In my opinion, this is not spoken about openly enough within the pharmacy profession. There is fear amongst pharmacy registrants as to the potential impact on their declaration of fitness to practice with the General Pharmaceutical Council and how they might be viewed by and treated by colleagues.
I can see qualities of neurodivergent individuals that others may not see. Neurodivergent individuals are novel in their way of problem-solving, thinking ‘outside of the box’ and with creativity. This is most definitely my ‘superpower’. Not only does this help me with recognising pharmacy colleagues in the workforce who are neurodivergent but also students whom I lecture in academia. When teaching, I am conscious of how material is delivered to students, to develop a nurturing and inclusive learning environment.
Speaking at the Pharmacy Show in October 2024 was amazing. I was supported by colleagues and students and it has given me a voice in advocating for those with hidden disabilities, who may not be able to. The profession must do more to support future generations of pharmacists. The more openly we talk about neurodivergence, the more we will be able to adapt to the future of the pharmacy workforce.
Being a pharmacist and getting FND
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is the second most common neurological disability in the UK. Tens of thousands of people in Scotland have it. Up until 2023, I was working 25 hours a week as a hospital pharmacist, a mum of two, and a carer for my mother-in-law. Life was busy, covering 4 specialities, neonates, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, and orthopaedics day to day as well as departmental duties and on-call.
I got Covid-19 in March which necessitated a few days off work. By June every neurone was strained, I couldn’t focus. I went to the GP who within the hour sent me back to A&E. Consultants came and went all afternoon. At 7 pm I was sent home as there were no beds. I was at home for 2 months, not being able to walk, brain dissociated and finding it difficult to talk. My left side has neuropathic pains but thankfully no other symptoms, no tics or seizures yet.
My NHS managers applied the capability process and the outcome at 9 months was that I was recommended for ill health retirement which the consultants supported as little recovery was anticipated. Pharmacist no more.
Getting support
Hazel’s story demonstrates the impact FND can have on individuals’ lives and also the scale of disability discrimination that some of our members face. The PDA will support members with these issues both through our legal team and through the PDA Ability Network.
Network members meet to share their experiences, support each other, and consider what can be done to improve the working lives of disabled pharmacists. More information about the PDA Ability Network can be foundhere. Members can also access our charity partner,Pharmacy Support,who can provide counselling, support, and advice.
Nothing about Us without Us
The PDA supports the social model of disability which was designed to reflect the lived experience of disabled people and to be a tool for creating social change.
It says that it is society that should change rather than the disabled person having to adjust to a world which doesn’t cater for their needs. This means that the model affords disabled people the same rights and opportunities as non-disabled people, whilst acknowledging that disabled people are often excluded and oppressed by barriers in society.
We know from our own survey carried out in early 2024 that 40% of the PDA’s members who responded said that they had either been excluded, underemployed, or unemployed from the workforce because of their disability or long-term health condition.
The term ‘social model of disability’ was first used by the disabled academic, Mike Oliver, in 1983. The social model of disability has its history in the 1960s and 1970s, alongside other civil rights movements, when disabled people started to challenge the exclusion, lack of choice and negative societal attitudes toward them. Therefore, it sees the world as ‘disabling’ and being the problem rather than the medical model of disability which sees the disabled person as the problem.
There has also been a charity model of disability which sees disabled people as objects of pity or charity, where they are passive recipients of services instead of being agents of their own lives.
Whilst the PDA Ability Network uses the term ‘disabled’ to be an inclusive term to cover people who experience a wide range of physical and mental health conditions, impairments or neurodiverse conditions, we also recognise that some members would choose not to identify themselves as ‘disabled’. This is sometimes due to fear of being identified as ‘disabled’ in a registered profession where there continues to be significant prejudice and discrimination or sometimes a matter of personal preference.
The disability rights movement in South Africa came up with the phrase ‘Nothing about Us without Us’. It describes organising to overcome systemic oppression and empower persons with disabilities to take control over decisions affecting their lives. This is the aim of the PDA Ability Network and we encourage all members to get involved!
If you want to get involved or for more information, you can email us at[email protected].
Get involved
- Follow the PDA Ability Network on social media using #PDAability
- For more information about the PDA Ability Network, click here.
- If you would like to get involved with the network and its activities, email [email protected]
In case you missed it
- ADHD Awareness Month 2024
- PDA encourages members to stand up for sitting down
- PDA calls for zero tolerance for disability discrimination in the workplace
- PDA calls on employers to make reasonable adjustments
- Your rights under the Equality Act 2010
- It’s Time to Address Discrimination: Standing up for Sitting Down
- PDA Ability Network releases initial findings from the disability discrimination survey
- PDA Ability Network launches disability discrimination survey
- PDA Ability Network seconds an emergency motion at the STUC Disabled Workers’ Conference
|
|
