Union does the right thing
THE UNION has conducted a disability audit to find out how well it grants access and supports members with disabilities. General Secretary Jeremy Dear reported that ‘we came out very well. There’s some work to be done but we met all the thresholds easily’. TOM WALKER is a blind member who attended a training course at Head Office. He says the union lives up to its commitment to equal opportunities.
IF YOU’RE blind or partially sighted, attending computer-based training courses can be a nightmare. The access technology we need to use a computer either is not available or the training provider just finds it too difficult to sort things out. But when I took part in a Writing for the Web course at the NUJ’s head office in London, I couldn’t have asked for better help and support.
I have been a press and publicity officer for Wirral Council on Merseyside for three years. The work of the team includes writing and editing copy for the authority’s website.
To access a PC I use technology called Jaws. Jaws reads aloud the characters that fully sighted people would see on their screen. This software is expensive. When I read about the Writing for the Web course on the NUJ’s website, I contacted the union’s training department to tell them I needed it. When I arrived on the first morning Jaws was installed and ready to use. It couldn’t have been easier.
It was a stress-free start to an excellent course. The trainer, Chris Wheal, occasionally had to step in when one of the websites we were looking at was not accessible. Chris’s commitment to ensure that I didn’t experience any insuperable difficulties matched that of the NUJ.
In an industry that doesn’t go out of its way to welcome visually impaired journalists, the NUJ has shown what can be done when an organisation is genuinely committed to equality and diversity.
The NUJ is one organisation at least that has taken positive action to remove the barriers that have so often excluded visually impaired people in the media from taking advantage of career development opportunities.