Clarion UK: Employment has been working continuously throughout Lockdown with British sign language users in London.  Our CEC, Wesley Nolan interviewed Dawid recently and here is his story.

Dawid is a Deaf sign language user who is a hard-working and dedicated all-rounder. He had worked in Tokyo, Spain, Sweden, Canada, Germany and Poland in a variety of roles. He was a handyman, decorator, warehouse operative, forklift and delivery driver before moving to the UK in 2013, and  worked in similar roles for employers in the UK.

Some of his previous employers had initially been concerned about Health and Safety due to his deafness, but he was always able to demonstrate his capabilities and reliability regardless, and brush away those barriers.

Barriers multiplied during unemployment, Dawid was proficient in searching for jobs online using sites like Reed and Indeed yet quite often got responses asking to set up telephone interviews or receive phone calls that he could not answer. He did try to explain and suggest communication via SMS or email, but continued to miss out on job opportunities,  with very few employers adjusting the way they communicated. Quite often, as soon as others realised that he is Deaf the interest seemed to fizzle out quickly. More recently, More recently, a courier company, interviewing him for a job, decided that the practicalities of training in a van with a BSL interpreter during COVID-19 made it impossible.

The JobCentre Plus Advisor for Dawid referred him to Clarion’s Specialist Deaf Employment Advisor Wesley Nolan for support. Wesley who is also a Deaf British Sign Language user, has had BSL Interpreters to support him in his work for the last 10 years.

Dawid had a great employment history, the first step was to develop a strong CV and a cover letter template. Wesley was able to follow up with employers using his BSL interpreter and to provide advice about Government Access to Work funding being available for Dawid, which funds  interpreters for interviews. This proved fruitful and Dawid had some success communicating with companies via SMS and email.

He applied to Uber Eats among other jobs, and after quite a lengthy process, he started working as self-employed for them in December 2020. Wesley helped Dawid with registering as self-employed with HMRC, to keep good records and suggested that he contact a “Deaf-Friendly” accountant when he needs to do his tax return. Dawid is quite happy with the support and the outcome,  as well as the flexible hours in his new job.

If you would like to find out how Clarion UK can work with you Deaf or hard of hearing participants, please get in touch with Sam, Sarah or Sally at employment@clarion-uk.com or look on our website clarion-uk.com.

Let’s get started !