'I had to fight to make employers believe I'm not lying about my sight impairment'

Detailed summary

EXCLUSIVE: Delanie Lever, who has sight impairment, spoke to The Mirror about the employment barriers she has faced ahead of the publication of Alan Milburn's review into unemployed people

A 24-year-old woman with sight impairment said she has suffered “humiliating” experiences in workplaces despite firms having signed up to an employers’ disability scheme.

Delanie Lever, from the north west, described “disheartening” experiences at three separate businesses that failed to provide her with extra equipment for her condition between the ages of 19 and 23. Ms Lever, who has Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is degenerative, said her eyesight can fluctuate with the condition - and leaves her feeling though she has to force employers to believe her.

“One day I might be able to do a task, and the next I might not, and that's not me lying or making it up or exaggerating,” she told the Mirror. “I think employers would see that and question the authenticity of what I'm saying and the truth behind it.

“It did put me off work for a while because I thought, well, how are people going to believe me? Because with me, it's an invisible disability. So I don't have a guide dog. I don't have a cane. I don't look disabled.”

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Ahead of Alan Milburn’s landmark review into unemployed young people, Ms Lever - who contributed to the report - is calling for better and more consistent support so employees with disabilities don’t feel like a “burden”. For her, accessibility issues started at school, including when an exam board failed to provide her with larger print exam papers during her GCSEs.

Teachers photocopied new booklets for her on the day but the diagrams and measurements were distorted during the process, she said. “I'd already failed before I even started that exam,” she said. “Now that is so hard to swallow because I know that I worked really hard. Had I been provided with the right papers and given that equal chance to my peers, I would have succeeded.”

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