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My son Oliver was born with several disabilities, including a trachea that hadn’t developed properly, causing him to stop breathing at least 50 times throughout the day and night. Oliver needed constant checking and moving to prevent his trachea collapsing and at one point he was so ill he had to be fed by gastric tube. He was in and out of hospital for the first few months of his life.
I quickly discovered that there was very little support and that I’d have to fight for any bit of information regarding his disability. I scoured the internet to find out what support or piece of equipment might help keep Oliver alive. Everything was a fight. We were supposed to get a nurse once a fortnight for respite but that didn’t arrive. I found Oliver a place at a lunchtime club but was asked to withdraw him as he was a health and safety risk, even though he was accompanied by a trained childminder.
I was determined to return to work, after Oliver was born but struggled to find childcare that catered for his needs. I also started having problems at work. My requests for flexibility were denied, I was threatened with the sack if I was late and everything seemed a fight. Yet colleagues who didn’t have disabled children were given much more flexibility. Once, when Oliver had an operation I was refused special parental leave despite colleagues being allowed time off for their children. I was even sworn at by senior members of staff and told that my son was ‘always sick.’ Eventually I felt forced into accepting redundancy.
A friend felt I might have a case for ‘constructive dismissal,' and the solicitors agreed, and suggested I could claim a case of ‘disability discrimination by association.’ I wanted to prove that I should not be treated differently just because my son was disabled. It was a hard thing to do but our case went all the way to the European Court of Justice, and when we won it made headlines across the UK. I’ve since learned that because of my case the UK government are changing the law so all carers have protection from discrimination by association with disability. I’m so pleased that my own fight will now benefit millions of others in the same boat.
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