Links - Employment

Links to sites relating to employment

• Access to Work

Department of Work and Pensions website. "As well as giving advice and information to disabled people and employers, AtW pays a grant ... towards any extra employment costs that result from a disability."

We can get some help towards costs of special equipment (I imagine this might include electronic stethoscopes and aids to help us in meetings and with telephones and pagers) and support workers such as note-takers, lip-speakers and interpreters to sign, for example.

• Looking for work, Access to Work and the Disability Discrimination Act

This link is to a factsheet on the RNID website. It includes information about "reasonable adjustments" such as providing equipment, communication support, time off for appointments and to learn new skills such as lip-reading and when a job should be modified to take into account a deaf employee’s needs.

• Disability Discrimination Act

This link is to a factsheet on the RNID website. Written for employers, it has information about best practice in recruiting and employing deaf, deafened and hard of hearing staff. It explains about "reasonable adjustments" such as providing equipment, communication support, time off for appointments and to learn new skills such as lip-reading and when a job should be modified to take into account a deaf employee’s needs.

• Forum for OTs with disabilities 

This excellent website includes information that will be useful for those of us in other professions as well as OTs. Packed with helpful links and resources. Includes a discussion forum for OTs with disabilities. There are links to resources about employment and training.

• GMC

The GMC requires any doctor whose health might put patients at risk to follow advice from an occupational health department. Go to the ethical guidance section of their website and click on "guidance," "Good Medical Practice" and "Health."

• Association of Lipspeakers

A lipspeaker is a hearing person trained to repeat a speaker's message to lipreaders accurately, without using their voice. A lipspeaker may be employed to aid communication between lipreaders and hearing people in a range of situations such as education and training, conferences and meetings, job interviews.