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Transcript
Hi, my name is Brooke Pape, this is my sign name. I’m from Canberra.
At the moment, I work three jobs. The first one is in Australian Government Public Service, I also teach Auslan at TAFE and for community courses, and provide disability support for deaf clients. The first job I got was full-time in 2019. Within a month of starting, all staff were required to attend an induction course.
I enrolled, submitted my paperwork. I contacted the facilitator and requested reasonable adjustment: they provide an Auslan interpreter. That was acknowledged, and things went ahead. Two weeks later, I was removed from the course enrolment list. I contacted the manager to clarify what was going on. The manager contacted the course facilitator, and found out that they believed the Auslan interpreter would be a distraction for other course participants. I was shocked, the manager was furious and shocked. He “flipped the table”. There was already discrimination at my new job in less than a month. This was unexpected, I was not prepared at all. But thankfully I had a supportive team; they learnt Auslan for me. We would do a ‘sign of the week’ to practice, we’d chat at lunch, do a lot of things together. We still keep in touch, do Christmas visits.
Unfortunately, in Government work, there are always restructuring. Which meant I lost my team. I had to start all over again with the new team, teaching them deaf awareness, about deaf culture, sign language, Auslan interpreters. Canberra’s pool of interpreters is very small; there is only one level-3 Auslan interpreter and she’s half-retired. She isn’t the best fit for my needs; she’s not bad at all! It’s just my needs are different. I prefer level-3 interpreters from Sydney. The level-2 interpreters in Canberra are not suited for Government work and would not reflect my literacy skills properly.
There was a lot of ongoing dispute. I said I needed Auslan interpreters for meetings, training, which they refused. In ACT, there is a language policy that states providing interpreters is a requirement. But because my government workplace is federal, the state policy didn’t apply. My work is in procurement, we obtain services and provide them for all of Australia or our own staff. We’re very adept at knowing how to spend your money. To procure a service, there are three companies to look at, with the stakeholder’s objective in mind. Having a level-3 interpreter was my objective. Choosing services from three companies is how procurement normally happens, as dictated by policy.
But the disability inclusion team said ‘value for money’ is the objective, to look for the cheapest cost-effective approaches, which is wrong. The law we all have to follow states ‘value for money’ depends on the stakeholder’s objective. They refused to budge. We summoned an occupational therapist, because every new staff is required to comply to WHS standards in their workplace. They acknowledged my being profoundly deaf and needing level-3 interpreters. They knew I could speak and lipread but still needed level-3 interpreters for meetings and training. They already provided their letter of support, but that letter was ignored. I’ve shown them the letter many times, as well as NSW’s Disability Inclusion Access Plan. They ignored that too. This went on for three years.
I got the job through Disability Employment Service (DES). I enrolled and got in that way. That meant they knew I would need reasonable adjustment and they’d need to budget to ensure equity across the workplace. They knew but didn’t follow through. Remember, the constant team restructuring due to MOG- Machinery of Government, meaning the changing structure depends on the Prime Minister’s instructions. So our department underwent changes, and I had to repeat the deaf awareness process every time. After my supportive team was moved away, I’ve never had a team that was the same, they were never understanding or supportive. It was so bad that one of my bosses was angry at me for my Disability Employment Service person contacting her; that process was a required part of the contract the department had signed.
Because we had a bit of an issue; my supervisor and I constantly had communication breakdowns, which frustrated me. They made mistakes when training me through something and blamed me for it. There was evidence in the emails to indicate otherwise! We both met with the upper boss; this was last minute; I was not aware of the serious nature of the meeting. I would have arranged to have an interpreter and a support person otherwise to share my position, that’s only fair. They said I must have the knowledge and skill to be able to read the SOP (Standard of Procedure). There’s a lot to read with heavy English. I requested for it to be translated into Auslan; they refused and said “at your level in the Public Service, you should have the skills, if you don’t, you should be demoted.”
I was taken aback and hurt. They also had an issue with me, thinking I had deliberately contacted external agencies for additional support. But she apparently didn’t know about the DES person I was working with. That was part of the handover, I had already asked the old boss to clarify what was in the handover, they said the handover included all the necessary details and paperwork. The boss yelled at me in front of everyone, in an open-floor office space with more than 50 staff. I was sitting, she was standing, I was already feeling intimidated. It was awful. After that, I took 3 months off work without pay. I was feeling uneasy and lost, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I could leave the job and focus on my other jobs. I loved teaching Auslan and advocating and supporting the Deaf community. But I did get that job like that after just one interview, and into a high job level. Other Canberra deaf people had tried for the job many times with no success. I felt that-
My mantra is ‘everything happens for a reason’. I felt like I was put into that job position for a reason. It was my duty to make positive changes that can have an impact on the Deaf community in a positive way. That was what made me stay. After three months of leave, I had lots of therapy, and visited many friends outside of Canberra; I didn’t have many friends in Canberra. I got my ‘deaf boost’ and felt better and ready to head back. Once again, there was another restructure, I thought ‘good!’ That boss would be moved elsewhere, and hoped the new allocated team would be better. The new team was nice but not proactive. They said all the right things but did not follow them up with the right actions.
I said I found a loophole for getting an interpreter without causing budget issues by procuring an interpreter on the panel. That way we don’t have to justify why we picked that company, because they’re already on the approved list of businesses. For example, in public estimate, one could ask the government why they’re spending a lot of money on interpreters from Sydney instead of local interpreters. There’s nothing to protect us, the deaf community, from these questions motivated by finding more cost-effective approaches, like insisting on local interpreters rather than interstate interpreters.
That made me realise, on the issue of finding compatible interpreters, there’s nothing to protect people like me who deserve a higher standard of interpreting. Canberra is too small to enable that, local interpreters are not to blame, we don’t have the resources, fundings, the skill to upskill Auslan interpreters. We need more deaf people to move to Canberra so the deaf community here can grow. It’s literally like living in a rural country. It felt like a big responsibility to shoulder, I didn’t want to give up and lose the opportunity to create positive change on a federal level for the deaf community and all of Australia at the same time.
So I stuck with it for 3 years. During a 1-2 year period, I went through a lot of bullying and discrimination until now. Unfortunately, I had to deal with sexual harassment. Because the workplace didn’t provide an interpreter, so I had to rely heavily on one staff. The boundaries were loose, I didn’t know what was expected in a professional relationship, what was normal and what wasn’t. I come from a dysfunctional family so I did not have the opportunity to acquire a natural sense of social rights and wrongs. Most people have that. I grew up without a father and didn’t have a role model. It was a slow sly change; after one year, until the last thing happened, I realised ‘this is wrong’. I submitted a report to the supervisor, he was shocked and felt guilty. He knew he neglected me and apologised. He took accountability, which in itself says a lot. I had to provide a formal statement for our internal investigation team, it was part of the mandatory reporting process, I didn’t want to do it but I had to. Because I told the supervisor, the supervisor is required to inform the team so that they can interview me. I was really nervous. They asked me for a statement, I didn’t know where to start so I asked for help. My English is good but I’m not confident enough to write what I want down. They offered me some questions. It was still difficult but I was also dealing with trauma and anxiety. I hadn’t fully processed what happened too. I posted on Facebook, asking for someone with strong English skills and can sign as well. I didn’t feel comfortable speaking. Sometimes I might feel more comfortable speaking, sometimes signing, and even writing. So I needed someone who could do all three. After a long period of searching, I had a deaf interpreter help out. They were a big help, yes, but I should have several other people to check and not completely rely on the one person. Boundaries are different for interpreters; the deaf interpreter has to write down what I say. I should have checked with other people who could give me feedback, e.g. ‘you should not say that!’ ‘You need to talk more about your feelings’. I’m well known for not talking about feelings. I often focus on being factual.
Because they told me to be factual and not emotive. But I didn’t know that with psychological injury, you have to talk about your emotions and how it’s impacted you. I didn’t know that they hid that from me. If that’s because I didn’t have accessibility or family to provide guidance and general knowledge other people have. I did two interviews and a statement and submitted them. In the end, people said they remembered things differently. I was shocked. But they did say they were happy to organise for the head of department, secretary, and a disability commissioner, and other higher up people to meet with me to talk about accessibility. I was interested in that. But someone recommended that-
They said sue the company. Woah, I didn’t ask for your advice, I don’t want your opinion, I want you to do your job. “I’ve worked on many work comp cases, you have a big case here. You dealt with a lot, having to take 3 months off. And then 6 months, and now 1.5 years without pay.” I’m now in financial hardship. My life is on hold. I can’t study, I can’t enjoy being me because I’m so scared of socialising with hearing people again. I’m scared of socialising with men again, because I thought in a higher government place, everyone must be professional. With a big age gap like that, I thought it impossible, he couldn’t see me as something sexual. And that shocked me. I’m his children’s age.
So now I’ve submitted a statement for worker’s comp. I’m waiting to find out if it’ll be going ahead as a case or not. They’re hoping at the end of all this that-
Australian Public Service Commissioner to make it standard practice that all deaf and HoH staff have access to interpreters regardless of financial costs, and have a deaf interpreter translate the annual mandatory training so it can be reused. If the training is updated, that shouldn’t matter, it should still be translated.
When I decided to sue, the first step in the process was to see the GP for a medical certificate for work leave. I contacted Comcare, a worker’s comp insurance company. I don’t know if it’s the same across Australia but I think this company is for Australian Public Service or maybe only under my department. I’m not sure. I contacted them and they asked me to give them a formal statement. I gave them that. They asked me to get a medical individual assessment, I did this only last week. I was nervous because unfortunately I had a difficult experience with one of the people. I’ve been through a MVA (motor vehicle accident), this person delved deeply into my past, attempted to blame me and my past trauma as the reason why I was in chronic pain, rather than the accident itself causing that.
Because of that experience, I was nervous with the next assessment. But she was lovely this time. She said we only require minimal details of the past because I was managing it, going to therapy with good results. Back then, I was really happy, I was ‘human’ and able to walk, go shopping, socialise. But now I can do none of these things anymore. She understood, and asked me when did it start. I wasn’t certain nor clear on the dates. She referred to the timeline of the statement. I haven’t received a report, I don’t know if it was successful or not. I hope it is. I feel it will have a good outcome.
My advice is that with any meeting, e.g., any verbal conversations you have with your supervisor, manager, whoever, be sure to record the date of the conversation, what was discussed, any actions, when to follow-up. Write everything down because you never know if they will sue you one day. You at least have evidence recorded over time. Also, start keeping a log of when you have anxiety attacks, when it started, when therapy started, when did you start feeling scared to leave the house, start having nightmares and sleepless nights, write them down. Because they will look back and work out the date the psychological injury starts impacting you. That was what I wished I had done.
But luckily, I had plenty of evidence, through text messages and emails, of discrimination.
