-
Community Stories, Health and Disability, Carers, Students and Graduates, Looking for work, Staying in work, Currently not in work, Organisations, Spotlight Stories,Blog Views
184
Carissa’s Story: Living with a Disability Before and During the Pandemic
Carissa is a student at the University of Oxford. During the first COVID-19 lockdown, we spoke to Carissa to find out more about her disability, her studies and her thoughts on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world of work and accessibility.
Can you please tell us about yourself?
Hi, I’m Carissa. When I was 12 I had a spinal stroke which resulted in paralysis. This led to an official diagnosis of Incomplete Tetraplegia. In total, I spent a year in hospital, first in intensive care whilst I had a tracheostomy as my lungs were paralysed. 3 months later I moved to Stoke Mandeville for 9 months for rehab. This meant that I missed year 8 but luckily my school was very supportive and I managed to keep up enough that I didn’t need to be set back a year. I can walk, but only short distances because of leg and core weakness and also weak lung function. The biggest disruption to my life that resulted from the accident is that my shoulders are completely paralysed, so I have very limited arm function. This means that I need personal assistants to help me with day-to-day living. During the time that I spent recovering in hospital and in the years since, my academic life has kept me going; it was a motivator when everything else seemed rough.
Has your education or experience of education ever been affected by your health?
As previously mentioned, my stroke led to me missing a year of school. Additionally, in the first few years after being discharged from the hospital I was ill several times as a result of my lung weakness. This meant that I would miss work, and I became used to having to catch up. More recently, I came down with freshers’ flu at the beginning of my first term at Oxford which, again, meant that I had to catch up on work. The weak arm function and speed with which I tire because of my disability also means that my work always takes me longer. This meant that I became used to working long hours (which did actually help prepare me for the long studying hours that come with an Oxford degree!).
How has your disability affected your ability to find work?
I’ve never actually had to get any work experience as it isn’t required for my degree. However, I think that some remote, online internships that are available now as a result of coronavirus would suit me very well! I hope that going forward as we move out of and on from the pandemic, companies are more flexible about how they employ people and provide opportunities to people through work experience.
What was your general daily routine like before COVID-19?
I’m a maths student at the University of Oxford, and my routine was pretty much the same as everyone else on my course. The biggest difference was that whenever there were events, particularly ones outside of college, I would have to prepare a bit more than the average student. This could involve having to book a taxi, checking that the place I was visiting was accessible, and bringing my personal assistant with me if necessary, etc. The intensity of Oxford degrees means that a lot of my time is spent studying in my room or going to lectures/tutorials.
How have you found working from home, especially during the pandemic?
Working from home has been quite tricky – as with everyone else, including those who aren’t disabled, there are lots of distractions and your mind isn’t in the same place as when working in an academic environment. Also, I don’t actually have a desk at home, so that’s made studying a bit more difficult. However, online lectures and tutorials have made the logistics of learning with my disability easier, and I think that if I did have a workplace set up at home, working remotely (at least a few days a week) would be a great option for me. I hope that in the future, companies who employ me would be flexible with me sometimes working from home.
Do you think that the pandemic and the last few years will change the way we work in the future?
Yes, I think companies will be more flexible with those who want to work remotely and might even actively rearrange how their businesses run, to have more people working from home. This would be beneficial for companies as they wouldn’t need such large office spaces. Also, they could expand the applicants they reach because people won’t necessarily relocate for their jobs.
How has your disability impacted life at home with your family?
When I was in primary school, my mum did a degree in spatial design. Unfortunately, by the time she was ready to start looking for work, my accident happened. After that my mum couldn’t work as she was caring for me. Even now, I’m home for the holidays so it’s not easy for her to get a flexible job, as she wouldn’t be as able to work 9-5 hours.
What career would you like to do in future? Do you think your mobility impairment could affect how you get into that career, or your job prospects in general?
I’m not sure what career I want to go into yet – possibly finance or something that involves applied maths. In recent times I think that attitudes towards disabled people in the workplace have improved a lot and companies have been making more adjustments for them. In a way, coronavirus has been good for accessibility, as it’s pushed employers to be more flexible and realise that remote working is possible and quite easy! I hope that going forward employers are more willing to accommodate people’s needs to work from home and that workplace accessibility will further improve.
“I hope that after the pandemic, companies will be more flexible with those who want to work remotely and might even actively rearrange how their business runs, to have more people working from home and increase their accessibility.”
Tags
All Tags
Accessibility Accessibility int he workplace Accessibility ramps Adaptive fashion Advocacy All Saints Alt text Assistive technology Autism Awareness Blog Bullying Burnout Business Businesses Cancer Candidates Captions Cerebral palsy Characters Charity Charity sector Chronic pain Closed captions Clothes Clothing Cognitive disabilities Communication Companies Company Company Corner Confidence Confucius Consultant Consultation Content designer Data talent Diagnosis Difference Digital transformation Disabilities Disability advocate Disability advocates Disability community Disability confident Disability inclusion Disability Policy Centre Disabled Disabled people Disabled People’s Direct Action Network Disabled-led Diverse Diversity Diversity and inclusion Diversity Recruitment Platform Domestic violence Dysfluency Education Employment opportunities Empowerment Ethnic minorities Fashion Fashion industry Feedback Flexible work Freelance Game Gaming Gareth Walkom Garment technologist Gastrointestinal conditions Gender Guide dog Healthcare HR Hybrid working Inclusion Inclusivity India Inspiration Intellectual capabilities Interviews Invisible disabilities Invisible disability Istituto Marangoni Jack Wills Job descriptions Job interviews Job opportunities Learning disability Leeds Leeds trinity university Legislation LGBTQ+ Long-term health condition Long-term health conditions Maya angelou Meta Metaverse Migrants Motivation Musculoskeletal conditions Neurodivergence Neurodivergent Neurodiversity consultant Neurodiversity space Neurotype Neurotypes New Delhi Non-profit Partially sighted People Phase Eight Phone calls Physical disabilities Pirate video games Policy Poverty Presentations Primark Public speaking Puneet Singh Singhal Race Raising awareness Registered blind Remote work Rights School Scope Self-employed Self-employment Senior staff Sexuality Shaw trust Shaw trust power 100 list Sign language Social mobility Social-emotional learning Social-emotional learning platform Software Speaking situation Speech differences Speech disabilities Speech impediment Spotlight series Spotlight stories Ssstart Staff Stammer Stammering Stories Stuttering Sweaty Betty Tech industry Tech talent TEDx Tesco Think tank Underrepresentation Unhidden Unhidden Clothing Universities Vanessa Castañeda Gill Victoria Beckham Video game Violence Virtual reality VR Web accessibility Women Work environment Work from home Working conditions Working from home Youth Access to work Accessibility in the workplace Accessibility test Accessible work Acting Adhd Adjustments Administrative Adrian lord Advice Advocacy and campaigns Allparty parliamentary group for inclusive entrepreneurship American civil rights movement Android Anglonorman App Artificial intelligence Bad grammar Barriers to work Bbc Benefits Blind persons act Blue badge Blue badge service specialists Care Career Carer Celtic languages Center on everyday lives of families Ceo Cfs Chloe tear Chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic health condition Chronic illness Community Community story Community, community story, founder, feature, accessible work, disability employment gap, making a difference Companies house Compressed hours Computer science Computers Coronavirus Councils Covid19 Crystal mark standard Deaf Demo Design Dialects Dictionary Digital accessibility Disability Disability discrimination act Disability employment gap Disability rights movement Disability services Disabled peoples direct action network Disabled persons employment act Easy read Email address Employers Employment English English speakers Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Epilepsy Equality Equality act Equality and diversity Equality of access Esources, disability, disability services, support services, community story, features, adjustments, social support network Eugenics Facebook Feature Features Fibromyalgia First world war Flexi Flexible working Flexitime Flextime Founder Francesco cirillo Freelancing French Gcses Gdpr General data protection regulation Good Good grammar Google Government policy Government support Graduate Graduates Grammar Grammar schools Health Health condition Health conditions Hearing impairment History History of language Holistic Ico Impact Imposter syndrome Inclusive entrepreneur network Inequalities Inequality Information commissioners office Information governance Instagram Internet Jacqueline winstanley Language Latin Law Learning difficulties Lexicographers Limited company Local councils Local government Making a difference Marketing strategy Mecfs Medical conditions Medical model of disability Medical vs social models of disability Medicines Mental health Middle english Mindfulness Mlm Mobility issues Multilevel marketing National league of the blind Neurodiversity Niya Normans Old english Old french Onboarding and retention Online Out of work Oxbridge Parent Passwords Patchwork hub Payment details Planning Planning for work Podcasts Pomodoro Preposition Private schools Psychiatric Psychiatry Punctuation React Reasonable adjustments Recruitment Remote working Resources Resources and support Rest Retinopathy of prematurity Sales Scam Search engine Second world war Shell shock Slang Social Cipher Social interactions Social media Social model of disability Social support network Socialising Spelling Spoken language Spotlight stories Standard english Startup State schools Student Students Studying Suffragette movement Support Support services Syntactician Syntax Technology The Disability Policy Centre The elderly Then barbara met alan Trafalgar square Turkish United nations Universal inclusion University University of arts london University of cambridge University of hertfordshire University of hull University of leeds University of oxford Victoria Jenkins Visual impairment War Ways of working West germanic dialects William shakespeare Windsor consultations WithVR Wordpress Work structure Workforce recruitment Working environment Workplace barriers World war one World war two Young carer