Alex Montgomery, administrator for the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) team, tells us his My CUH Story as part of Disability History Month 2022.
Hear more from Alex
Link: https://youtu.be/84wsLjAyc1Y
Hi Alex! Tell us a bit about your CUH journey
I started in my current role about two or three months ago, which has been going really well, but I actually joined CUH about ten years ago as an apprentice in A&E doing administration.
I then worked for a couple of months with the neurophysiology department as a medical secretary before spending a couple of years with the haematology oncology team as a personal assistant.
I also worked in estates for a few years as a workforce administrator - so I've worked in a couple different departments and seen how the different teams operate, the different processes and things like that.
Towards the end of my time in A&E, I got involved in what eventually became the Open Minds staff network, doing mental health campaigning. By the time I reached haematology oncology, I started getting involved in Unison as a steward and an LGBT+ officer.
It all kind of led into becoming more involved in the LGBT+ network, the Purple Network when that was developed, and just very much caring about equalities.
What’s your favourite part of your current role?
I think I enjoy having a very clear sense of direction and what I'm doing and there is a lot to do, but I don't find that daunting - I find that exciting!
The way our team works is really nice. Although obviously there is a hierarchy because of how job bands work, it doesn't feel that way. It feels like we're all on the same equal ground and we can all have open discussions.
If there’s an opportunity for input on difficulties faced by the transgender community, as a trans man, I am asked for my opinion and it’s respected the same as all of my colleagues.
It’s Disability History month, could you tell us a bit about your experience of having a disability or long-term health condition?
I have a rare disease called SAPHO syndrome, which means that I have chronic bone pain and joint pain. It took about four years to get that diagnosis, so during that time it was completely untreated.
There were some issues within the workplace at the time because there was no diagnosis. I had the stress of being on sickness, monitoring, which is fair when you have that much sickness, you've got to go on monitoring, but it added another layer of stress to something when I didn't know what was going on.
It took a couple of years trying different treatments to find out what works. I had things like an ergonomic wrist rest and ergonomic mouse.
We eventually realised that the bone infusions I had been receiving, they weren't working anymore, and I was at risk of losing core bone. So in the middle of the pandemic, I had to start immunosuppressive treatment and I'm now on weekly methotrexate injections. My pain level is the best it’s been in a very long time because of those.
They're working - that’s the main thing!
About four or five years ago, I was formally diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which I had suspected that I had for quite a few years.
I didn't realise how important the work environment I was in mattered until the pandemic hit and then suddenly, we were home working most of the time, and it became that much harder to maintain focus.
I then asked to adapt my hours slightly, so I still did 22.5 hours, but it was over four days.
Do you have any advice for colleagues with a long-term health condition or disability?
If you have a long term health condition of any kind, you’re technically protected by the Equality Act. But in order for that to be effective, you need to have made your manager aware.
Your manager can then help you with referrals to occupational health (OH) to start that discussion of what reasonable adjustments would be of benefit to you.
Another thing is to consider looking at the Purple Passport, which is a document that lets you track down what your health conditions are - how you look on a good day, how you look on a bad day.
You can agree reasonable adjustments that you need from managers and colleagues, and the best part about it is that it can follow you around the organisation. If, like me, you end up working in multiple departments, you don't have to go through the same long discussion with your new manager. You can say: 'by the way, on my on my personal file, there is a Purple Passport. Please read it so you understand what it is that I am going through and how best to support me if I have a bad day.'
I also have Seasonal Affective Disorder and a big part of my Purple Passport is talking through how to how to support me during the winter months, because that’s when I will be at my worst, effectively, where I might need more day to day reminders of the things I need to focus on.
I might also need more work-from-home days if I'm feeling really, really rough in the morning because I've just had a week of terrible sleep.
So, you know, these are all things that can go into that document that mean that I don't have to necessarily sit down and have an hour long discussion with my manager.