Equality within my Borough (Part 3)

Have you faced discrimination within the London Borough of Sutton and if so, what were the circumstances?

I believe that in everyone’s life education is paramount and is the most important starting block for life’s journey. Changes have taken place within the Borough and I would hope that a similar scenario would no longer take place. My own experience was based around my secondary school education. At the age of 14 years, my school in Sutton took the decision that it was no longer viable for me to continue my education with them and steps were taken to transfer me to a “special school” in Kingston. I do not want this and with the backing of my parents, I was able to appeal against this decision and continued my education at my mainstream secondary school. This situation arose purely by my London Borough of Sutton school not recognising the minor changes that needed to be implemented i.e. ensuring that all my classes were on the ground level etc. It was almost as if myself and my parents had to educate my educators!

Another way in which I have experienced discrimination is within the workplace and I truly believe that this still exists today and that the London Borough of Sutton should be doing more to educate and advise employers within the borough. As I entered the world of employment, I applied for many positions both locally and throughout London. I was rejected time and time again often with the organisations giving me feeble excuses by way of an explanation but it was very clear to me that these decisions were taken due to my disability and amounted to indirect discrimination. At the time, laws were not in place that allowed me to challenge this and today it is a very different story. However, there still exists within the London Borough of Sutton the opportunity for disabled people to engage in “meaningful” employment mainly due to lack of understanding and knowledge of the true access requirements of disabled people. I do feel that not only the London Borough of Sutton but also London as a whole should be addressing this.

Do you live your life in a way that others may consider as different?

My initial response would be “no” – I live, work and socialise just like everyone else. However, on reflection I suppose the true answer would be “yes”. I do live life just like everyone else but the manner in which I do it is somewhat different. I do not think of this as being different merely as a change in the way of working or accomplishing things. These so called differences are purely my uniqueness just like someone picking up the telephone and calling a friend – I would rather grab my phone and text instead which is actually more in line with the youth of today!