Expecting a person in a wheelchair to comply at a compulsory standing meeting was one distressing experience shared at the Queensland Law Society’s first Inclusion at Work Panel Discussion and Lunch yesterday.
Fiona Yeang, founding member of the QLS Disability and Accessibility Network and Principal of Yeang Lawyers, shared her experiences at Brisbane’s Law Society House, where she joined Supreme Court Chief Justice Helen Bowskill and solicitors Tile Imo and Duncan MacDougall on a discussion panel.
Fiona, who uses a wheelchair, said she raised the issue after the first invite but was still expected to attend a series of standing meetings at that organisation.
“I was quite horrified by that, not least that the explanation given was a series of slides on the theme of ‘sitting is the new smoking’ and why it’s really bad for us all to sit,” she said.
Fiona Yeang with Her Honour Chief Justice Bowskill.
“(But) it’s more than that for somebody who doesn’t want to come into a room and say ‘I need to sit because I have XYZ health condition’ or ‘I’m having a bad day’, or whatever it may be,” she said.
“Because then they’ve got the choice of being really uncomfortable standing with everybody else, or sitting and being asked to justify why they’re different.”
Her advice to such workplaces included “please don’t ignore us because what we are trying to do is build a safe space for all of us”.
Duncan, who is president of the Pride in Law (Queensland chapter), said a top-down approach was needed.
“A lot of firms nowadays have their policies for inclusion, guidelines, principles but it really is the action that they take and the support that they give their employees in order to do the things and say what they want in terms of fostering that inclusive culture,” he said.
Fiona agreed, saying an organisation needed to show their stance in every interaction with people.
“I spend a lot of time on Google Earth and and Google and websites, researching how I’m going to get somewhere, whether I’ll be able to get in when I get there and so on,” she said.
“And some law firms, you go on their websites and it’s there, it’s just all there, the full accessibility information you need, and their websites are also fully accessible to those who use screen readers.
“If you are applying for a job or looking for advice or something, and you needed that information and there it was front and centre, that is a big tick and that really tells you something about that organisation.
“If you have to go digging and you still can’t find that information, and you have to ring up and someone says “ooh, I don’t know, nobody’s ever asked that question before’, that also tells you something about that organisation.”
The gathering at Law Society House.
Chief Justice Bowskill, who is also chair of the Judicial Council on Diversity & Inclusion, spoke of the welcome shift in the diversity at admission sittings.
She said one message she delivered when addressing the new lawyers at the sittings was: you belong to this profession just as much as the person standing next to you, or behind you or on the bench at your admission.
She also spoke of the changes in court process and procedures to incorporate diversity and inclusion, such as the impending third edition of the Supreme and District Courts Criminal Directions Benchbook, a recent practice direction related to the pronunciation of names, and amendments to practice and procedure rules.
Tile, from Caxton Legal Centre and co-host of the diversity in the legal profession podcast, Tilé and Olly Meets, delivered an acknowledgement of country in his native Samoan, before talking about the need to recognise cultural diversity in delivering law courses.
The discussion was introduced by QLS President Rebecca Fogerty and moderated by QLS CEO Matt Dunn.
View the QLS Diverse Abilities Network – Accessibility Guide here.
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