FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2022 :: RMTnews 21 I first got involved in the disabled people’s movement after losing my eye to a stray firework in 2005. With the support of RMT reps, I kept my job as a station supervisor on London Underground, fighting off attempts by the company to restrict me more than I needed to be. My commitment to disabled workers’ campaigning was reaffirmed when I found out I am autistic, and then when I had cancer (from which, thanks to the NHS, I have fully recovered). Our union did not have a disabled members’ committee or conference back then, but I started going to TUC disabled workers’ events, where I met activists from other unions. I found out that we faced many similar issues, and I learned about the social model of disability. This is a way of understanding disability that looks at how society puts obstacles in the way of people who have impairments or differences. It sees that society disables us, rather than that we as individuals are broken or need fixing. By applying this model, we can identify discriminatory barriers, including at work, and demand that employers remove them. Sometimes these are physical barriers, such as steps, sometimes they are demand barriers, such as workload or long hours. Barriers might include unsuitable communication formats (such as dyslexia- unfriendly print layout), or they might be punitive policies (such as attendance procedures that penalise people for taking time off sick). Five years ago, we held our first ever RMT disabled members’ conference and elected our first committee. It has been really encouraging to see disabled members from many different jobs, sectors and parts of the country come together to assert our rights and make the union more effective in fighting for disabled workers’ rights. I now work hours that suit me, and have some adjustments that enable me to still be working as a station supervisor twenty-five years after first joining London Underground. I strongly believe that this has only been possible because we are strongly-unionised workplace, and because rank-and-file members have insisted that our union fights for disabled workers’ rights. DISABLED MEMBERS SPEAK OUT FIGHTING FOR RIGHTS Janine Booth, RMT disabled members’ advisory committee secretary speaks out