Rachael is one of our WorkFit candidates.
Rachael turned 40 last year. It was obviously quite a big day for her, but in more ways than you might imagine.
On the same day, her boyfriend Ben proposed to her. Ben is also a WorkFit candidate and works as an Assistant Scientist with the Environment Agency.
To add to the celebrations, we were thrilled to be able to let Rachael know, on her birthday, that she had been successful in becoming the Advocate for Disabilities for the Office of Health and Disparities (Formerly Public Health England).
WorkFit first met with PHE three years ago. It was clear from the start that Chris Sharp and his team would need to make some adjustments to their recruitment process in order to facilitate employing someone with Down’s syndrome through WorkFit. The main issue was that all vacancies had to be advertised through open and fair competition. Although there are a few exceptions, all exceptions have to be agreed at a very high level. Chris spent many months speaking to the Civil Service Commission to get approval for an exception for WorkFit and was eventually successful.
Rachael had always wanted to help support people with disabilities and stressed that she would love to be an advocate so when Chris told us about the position we knew it would be a perfect opportunity for Rachael.
With support from her PA and her buddy, Vicky, and Chris’ wider team, Rachael has now been home working for nearly a year for the Office of Health and Disparities and absolutely loves her job. She says it makes her ‘very happy and very proud’
During the last year, Rachael has spent many hours on online meetings with all of the departments in the organisation, learning about what everyone does and the purpose of the service. She also really enjoyed visiting the Fire and Police service, where she was able to learn how all of our emergency services work together.
Rachel says:
‘It feels amazing to have a job. It makes me feel proud of myself and I have great support from my work colleagues. Becki from WorkFit helped my to find the job I wanted. She kept me up to date all the time and took me to my first visit to meet the team.’
On 28 June, Rachael chaired a fabulous online event organised by the Office of Health and Disparities, the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH). The event was called Employment and People with a Learning Disability: Advocacy and action to tackle inequality, promote diversity and inclusion in Yorkshire & Humber.
Rachael introduced all of the speakers and ran the agenda. She was an incredible host and did a superb job. She also shared her presentation about the deficit in employment for people with disabilities in Yorkshire and Humberside. Her presentation was both engaging and concise and the audience shared many comments about how impressive it was. Read more about the event here.
Asked about how the event went, Rachael said:
‘It was amazing to do and it was great to meet all the people who took part. I was very nervous but managed to overcome my nerves and I hope I will do some more.’
WorkFit Employment Development Officer Becki Bateson concluded:
‘Rachael has been an absolute pleasure to work with over the last year, supporting her to become an advocate for disabilities has been an outstanding achievement for everyone involved. Rachael’s professionalism and confidence has grown so much, she is an asset to WorkFit and the Department of Health and Disparities’.