Disability Narratives
Impact on working: Productivity, work-life balance, role, and flexible working
Interview excerpt: A change in role helped Mary focus on what she could achieve.
© Disability Narratives
We had a new head of department last year, who's been fantastic in saying, I shouldn't just be trying to meet the basics, I should be thinking 'what would I normally want to be achieving at this stage in my career?' And he's given me space to do that. So, relieved me of some duties so that I can do other things. And that's been really liberating, really wonderful.
[He also] said, "Well what do you think you should be doing right now, kind of thing, in terms of career progression?" And I said I would might have considered taken on [a senior role]. Very committed to those activities. But I didn't feel that I could have the capacity to do that without some give from my faculty tutors. So he's given me less class teaching to do than would normally be the case. So I've found that's the most helpful thing, actually, is when there's just been pragmatic ways in which people have said, "Do this, not that." Or, "We could work this out." Rather than necessarily big policy changes, it, it's been finding small ways to create some space. I suppose to recognise that I need more time to do the job, essentially. That's been really helpful.