This Working Life on Radio National

I made a brief appearance on radio today (Radio National) sharing my experience of acquired disability and returning to the workplace after my lower right limb amputation.

It’s by no means an exhaustive explanation of the many different experiences of people with disability, but it covers some important issues. I have written elsewhere on this blog about the experiences of other people, and of course, everyone has a different experience. This program, for example, really only talks about physical disability, and doesn’t touch on other types of disability.

This episode of “This Working Life” also features Teresa, a support officer with Stargardt’s disease. We both discuss the challenges we face at work, such as inaccessible documents, heavy doors, and navigating spaces designed for able-bodied people.

The episode also features Tom Bevan, an accessibility expert, who emphasizes the importance of designing inclusive workplaces and highlights the role of technology, flexible work arrangements, and open communication in supporting employees with disabilities.

The episode underscores the need for greater awareness, education, and understanding of disability issues in the workplace.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/this-working-life/making-workplaces-accessible-for-disability/104453270

These are my bits…

A Life-Threatening Emergency

James O’Brien: My name is James O’Brien, and I work for the ABC in audio as the planning manager.

Lisa Leong: James has worked here for a very long time. Then last year, he had a life-threatening emergency.

James O’Brien: I’d been overseas, travelling in Cambodia with friends, and I got a cut on my foot. When I arrived back in Australia, it was still hurting, but it wasn’t bad. However, over the course of three or four days, I went into a coma.

It turned out I had diabetes, and sepsis kicked in. Sometime that Friday, I failed to meet a deadline for work. My workmates started to panic because I always meet my deadlines. They came to my house, knocked on the door, no answer. They eventually called the police and the ambulance. I was taken to the hospital in an emergency, and the bottom half of my right leg was amputated. The sepsis had gone up my leg, and I had started developing gangrene.

The Road to Recovery

Lisa Leong: And how are you now?

James O’Brien: Still lucky to be alive! I had roughly four months off work last year. I spent about three months in the hospital because I was very, very sick. I also had some rehabilitation and had to learn to walk again with a prosthetic limb. Late last year, in November, I went back to work three days a week. Then at the start of this year, I went to work four days a week as part of a return-to-work plan.

Physically, I still get tired. It’s interesting—I didn’t know this, but when you’re an amputee, you’re actually doing much more exercise than everyone else because there’s so much more work involved. Plus, I have other issues like diabetes, and maybe the fact that I’m now 59 years old plays a role. I’m not sure how much of my fatigue has to do with those two things—whether it’s my illness or the fact that I’m getting old.

Adjusting to a New Reality

Lisa Leong: James joined an amputee support group and has since learned that he went back to work pretty quickly compared to others. His first day back was big.

James O’Brien: My colleagues were really fantastic, visiting me, sending gifts, sending messages, all those sorts of things. So the first day was pretty emotional. I was in a wheelchair on that first day when I came back. I had my prosthetic limb for maybe two or three weeks, but I was still getting around largely in a wheelchair. So that was an interesting kind of experience to come into my workplace and suddenly have to look up at people.

Lisa Leong: And it wasn’t only his emotions that he had to deal with. James was experiencing his workplace from a different perspective. James found some of the spaces at work a little bit more stressful to use now that he lives with a disability, even the space we booked for him to speak to us from.

James O’Brien: The studio I came to this morning—the door was really very heavy. I think I would struggle in a wheelchair to come into a studio like this. I also found interesting things like using the disability toilet. It’s got an automatic door, and I was just terrified that the door was going to open while I was sitting on the loo.

And then there are other little sorts of physical things around the place. For example, at our Parramatta office, we have a lift there which takes us up to the 39th floor. I would press the buzzer at first, and then the lift at the far end would open. And by the time I got to the door, the lift would close. So there were those physical kinds of things that were really a bit of a surprise.

The Importance of Flexibility

Lisa Leong: Being able to work flexibly is an adjustment that’s really important for James.

James O’Brien: I’m incredibly fortunate to have an office job, which I can do from home. So what I’ve settled on now is three days in the office, one day at home, and one day where I’m having my medical appointments.

Lisa Leong: In terms of the workflow, why have you decided to break your week up like that?

James O’Brien: Because by the end of Tuesday, I’m pretty tired. Monday and Tuesday, I work really quite hard. So on Wednesday mornings, I sleep in. I sleep in until about 9:30. It’s really good. And I also try and do all of those medical appointments.

• I go and see my doctor.
• I go and see the diabetes educator.
• I go and see my physiotherapist.
• I do some hydrotherapy.

I do all of those things on a Wednesday. So even though they sound actually quite energetic, it helps break up the week for me and means I don’t have to keep saying to my boss at work, “I need to take an hour off to go and do this as part of my rehabilitation.” So that’s what I’ve settled on. And that re-energizes me for Thursdays and Fridays.

Unexpected Challenges

Lisa Leong: James has some frustrations as well. He felt some of his colleagues, although well-meaning, did treat him a little bit differently.

James O’Brien: Some people really weren’t sure about things anymore. So I actually had a really interesting instance with a couple of people who started speaking to me a little more slowly and a little more deliberately. Look, I mean, one of the things early on was the prospect that if I’d been found a few hours later, I could have had brain damage, but I don’t. But I did find some people started to treat me in a different kind of way at work, which I just didn’t anticipate.

Lisa Leong: So what’s an example of treating you just that little bit differently?

James O’Brien: You know, “Whatever you can do, James. If you feel you can do it,” those sorts of words. And look, I really appreciate the emotions and the feelings and the expression behind that. But don’t kind of underestimate me. I’m OK. You know, that sort of thing. It’s the feeling that sometimes the extent of my disability is over-emphasized by people.

A New Perspective

Lisa Leong: What’s really interesting about you, James, is that you’ve now got this situation where you’ve got a different perspective from the one that you’ve had for quite a long time. So what are the biggest mindset shifts or perspectives that have opened up for you?

James O’Brien: So even though my disability is a physical one, I have started to interact with a lot of people with other types of disabilities as well. I think I’ve always been a good ally of people with disabilities, and I do a lot of work in the ABC around this, or have been doing. But now I have this kind of lived experience. And the lived experience means that I’m probably more inclined to look around to other people and what their needs might be.