The reason for coming on this video is to actually let people know, it doesn't make
any difference to what your abilities are. Just be yourself at work. Fujitsu is very
good at being inclusive, lots of people with skillsets, it's fine - and that's me. So my
condition is what they call Temporal Lobe Epillipesy. It's on the left side of my brain,
it just means my brain is working faster than normal. So my condition doesn't dictate to
me, I dictate to it - I control it. So I am completely me.
So I've got fibromyalgia, what have you got? Same. I suffer from 33 of the 35 symtoms,
and that other two are just women symptoms. Tick them off.
You found no issues in the job role that you currently have?
None at all. I'd say that with Fujitsu, I've had massive support from my line management
and my immediate management. Some people, there's very few people who know about the
condition. Until this video of course. The private medical health scheme has massively
helped me, and it's reassuring that you've got the employee assistance program should
you need it. There's all sorts of support. If you don't know where it is then just ask.
So how do you cope at work then? All the teams that I've worked in don't mind
if I fall asleep at the desk, and would just come and say 'Steve, time to take a walk'.
In fact, I remember in one of the teams I worked in, because of the way that I had flopped
in my chair the guy thought I was dead! My conditions, I've got two, both of which
have quite bizzare names: one is called Sjögren's syndrome, which quite frankly sounds like
something you'd catch on a long-haul flight to somewhere hot. The other one is called
Lupus, which is named after the wolf. Does this mean you bark at the Moon?
It certainly can do! I've been called the howling moon in the past.
The way I look at it is I've got 40 years of experience, I've grown up in the industry
so it would be silly to dismiss me because I've got disabilities. I'm really pleased
that Fujitsu operate int he way that they do.
To actually be completely me at work is really important. Did i find it hard to tell people?
Of course I did. I don't look like I live with two major conditions, but unfortunately
I do. The environment is perfect for me. I can't
imagine working anywhere else, and I wouldn't have felt that I was doing the best I could
do if the job hadn't changed slightly. It was a given that Fujitsu would support
me in any way they could, and also support my family. I think that Fujitsu have really
shown themsleves as, not just supporting me being me, but also supporting us being us
as a family. How has SEED helped you?
Millions of ways. I think it's just made me feel so much more confident about being me.
Hearing 'be completely you', and hearing it all the time, is actually starting to make
think that that is fine - you should be who you are.
SEED have me a wider community, a network of people. It's almost like blotting paper,
it just grows and grows and grows. Going forward I think it's going to be a real big benefit
to everybody that has some differences. It's amazing. It's liberating.
The organisation will give you the support; you just be completely you.
Absolutely. Be completely you. And we can be completely us. We can, exactly.
Be completely you.