TESS WHELAN: OK, we might get started. Getting a little bit of static. I would ask everyone to mute themselves.

OK, let's try now. Thank you so much for attending today's session, my name is Tess, I am the program coordinator at the Australian Network on Disability, and I am really excited to be hosting the session today on sharing disability information with employers.

We have great panellists and guest speakers joining us today to get into the nitty-gritty of sharing disability information with employers so I would like to welcome you all.

I wanted to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today. I would like to recognise the traditional Custodians of those lands, all the Elders, past, present and emerging, and I also want to acknowledge that we are all coming from different lands across the country today. I am coming from the land of the Wurundjeri people in Melbourne and I wanted to recognise that and asked people to think about the land on which they are meeting today.

I also wanted to acknowledge that Indigenous Australians are almost twice as likely to identify as having a disability, and acknowledge that we need to think about this when we're talking about disability, sharing disability information, and removing barriers for people with a disability.

I'm not too sure how many people watched 'Four Corners' last night, I am on my own journey about learning and listening and trying to learn more and highly recommend Stan Grant's 'Four Corners' last night.

Today session will be split into a couple of sections, I will start by speaking a little bit about tips on sharing disability information. We will then have a panel discussion with a couple… With our guest speakers. Debbie from the Royal Commission into violence against people with a disability. A speaker from Telstra, in early careers there, then Luke, from the Level Crossings Removal Project – then a question and answer session with the audience members.

Before we get started, we are recording the session today, I want to flag that up front. We will put this on our website, just be aware of that before you ask any questions, I wanted to flag that.

Please remain on mute while the presentation happens. We do have the ability to mute you as a participant. We will do that so everyone can hear as clearly as possible. If you need to ask a question you need to take yourself off mute.

My colleagues are on the line and can answer any questions in the live chat, and we may be able to get to that in the question and answer session today.

For live captioning we suggest you download the Microsoft Teams app. We also have Ai-Media doing captions for us today. I will get Rosie to post the link in chat. Click on the link and it is really easy to get the live captioning from Ai-Media there.

I will start by talking through some things that the Australian Network on Disability recommends on the topic of sharing disability information. It is quite a tricky and, topic at times, I wanted to clear up some things, make it very clear what we're talking about today.

We will start by talking about your rights. The Disability Discrimination Act is in place in Australia, it is legislation which protects people with a disability against discrimination in all aspects of the recruitment process and employment – all the way from recruitment to termination.

Employers are obligated to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace, and accommodate the requirements of individuals in that. I want to be clear, you have no obligation whatsoever, at any stage, to share any details about your disability with an employer – it is completely your choice. The law says, and everyone here would agree, it is your choice and it always will be.

We also wanted to point out that employers are obligated to make adjustments, and you can ask for adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or any stage during your employment as well.

Just to be really clear, we were talking about reasonable adjustments in the previous slide. I wanted to point out that a workplace adjustment is any change to a work process, procedure, piece of equipment or work environment, that enables an employee with a disability to perform the inherent requirements of their job, and that minimises the impact of their disability.

An adjustment is designed to allow a person to perform the inherent requirements, the essential requirements of the job, and maximise productivity.

It is about putting your best foot forward, and having the opportunity to reach your full potential.

Some common adjustments during the recruitment process, this is by no means an exhaustive list, just some of the most common once we see which does not reflect all the options available.

Quite often we see access being requested, lots of things around online testing, online testing can be a barrier in the recruitment process for certain disabilities. Also time restraints within online testing for other disabilities – lots of changes around that.

Being given the interview questions ahead of time is quite a common adjustment that is made during the recruitment process and it is quite simple to do. Bringing a notebook along to take notes, or bring in notes about what you are going to, for example, let's say there is always an interview question you get stuck on, so there is nothing to say you can't bring in notes of your own.

Also, the timing of interviews, some people prefer certain times of day when they are at their peak productivity, or in their best headspace to answer interview questions as best as possible.

Some common adjustments that are made in the workplace – there is quite a lot of adjustments that can be made in terms of flexible working. Having shorter days, starting later in the day, working part-time, working from home – these are all aspects of working flexibly.

Taking short breaks, working flexibly as well, is common amongst our interns. Having a mentor in the workplace is something we see amongst the interns as well, especially toward the start of your career, if it is, for instance, your first job in an office environment.

Preferences around written or verbal communication, whether there is a certain way you want to be communicated with. If you want really clear expectations communicated.

Using ergonomic equipment and different computer software to maximise productivity and remove barriers, noise cancelling headphones is also a really good example, and a simple one.

Then, things like having a car space so you can drive into work, those kind of things. As I said, this is by no means an exhaustive list, I wanted to give you an idea about what a workplace adjustment was.

When and if you share disability information with an employer it is really important to think about when. Every role, every organisation, every job you go for, you have to make this decision and you will have two look at quite a few different factors and make a decision about if you share disability information and, if so, when.

We don't generally recommend to share your disability information with your resume and cover letter stage. If you do, it needs to be clear they are encouraging people with a disability to apply for the position, or say it is a disability specific position where they are looking specifically for people with a disability.

Or, you are applying for a job in the disability industry, or a role as a disability support worker. Maybe, I know the NDIA, when they advertise for certain roles, they really encourage, and they are very clear about that in their position description, certain position descriptions about how they are encouraging people with a disability to apply – that is the only time we recommend being upfront in that first phase.

The next stage that you can choose to share disability information is when you are offered an interview. You may choose to share disability information at this point if your disability is visible and you want to give a heads up to the interviewer so there is not that shock factor.

Some people do, some people do not, if you have a severe disability that is something you have to decide yourself. Some people find it is easier because they can… Not everyone is expecting it, some people find they show up, this is who I am. Again, it depends on the role and the situation.

If you do need an adjustment for the interview, this is the time you would say you would like the questions to be given to me ahead of time or something similar, or I would like to take my notebook in with me. Not that you necessarily have to ask about taking a notebook in. Providing those adjustments if you need them in the interview.

Or if you have been to interviews before and it is very stressful for you to talk about your disability, because you are already so nervous, if it helps to flag it before the interview so you are less nervous about it in the interview, then by all means, if that is what will help and leads to the most success. That is definitely your choice to make as well.

During the interview, it is quite a common time to bring up and share disability information. You might choose to share information about your disability if you would like to address any misconceptions. Maybe your disability is a visible disability so you would like to describe it upfront and say, "I have looked at the job, the position description, and I believe I can excel in this work and that my disability will have no impact on that."

If you wanted to point out your skills and strengths from your life experience with a disability that you have gained, for instance, people who identify as having a disability, quite often are very good problem solvers, because they have been doing it quite often.

During the interview is one of the stages when you can flag any workplace adjustments that you might need, if you are successful in the position, you can kind of gauge the organisation's openness to that, and the hiring managers openness as well.

An interview is also a good time to gauge the employer's attitude towards disability, because some people really do want to work in inclusive environments, and if an employer does not seem like they have the right attitude, you might just say, that is one reason why that is not the role for you.

You can also, at any time during a job, share disability information. If you would like a workplace adjustment in the workplace you can let the organisation know, or your manager know, when they offer you the job. Or in the early onboarding processes within the organisation and within the role.

If you would like to inform the employer of any issues that might arise during your employment, maybe if you have a disability or a medical condition that fluctuates a bit, and you do want to flag that upfront, that is also a good time to do this. You might discover that you need an adjustment one month in, and that is OK to bring up now, and then as well.

It can be one month, three months, a year into your employment, you can still turn around and say, "If I had adjustment X, it would really help me perform the inherent requirements of the job."

You might feel a lot safer, say, a couple of months in, sharing disability information as well. So there is no reason why you should not share that. And if you are struggling to meet the inherent requirements of the job, you can also say, "I was not going to share, but I think I do want to just flag with you and share some disability information."

Those are all just the stages of the recruitment process that you cannot share disability information, and things to think about at each stage. As I said earlier, you have no obligation to share disability information at any time. That is why we are using a lot of 'ifs' in this presentation, because everyone is different, and every role is different. Making a decision about each different role you apply for, when you are going to share that disability information, making a decision every single time is important.

If you do choose to share disability information, plan and practice what you are going to say, that is really important. Remember to keep it solution-focused, so rather than speaking about your medical condition, your diagnosis, your type of disability, employers do not really know what to do with this information. It is an 'out of the work' context. So keeping that information to a minimum and focusing on the adjustments, keep it solution-focused.

Focus on how things can be done differently so you can reach your peak performance and do your job safely. That is what we recommend at the Australian Network on Disability. Remember to keep it positive, and talk about the attributes that your disability has given you to really reach your full potential in this role. So, you do have a disability, but you are a really great problem solver, you are really organised, because you need to be so in your everyday life.

Keeping that really positive conversation, and keeping it solution focused, and offering to assist with adjustments. Offering to have further discussions, at whatever stage of the recruitment process you ask or share that disability information, saying, " I will bring my own notebook to the interview," instead of showing up and saying "Do you have a piece of paper I can write notes on?"

So being proactive and saying you will research the different types of ergonomic keyboards available, those types of things, offering that kind of assistance and being proactive is also a really positive thing.

We will move into our panel discussion now. I will get each of our panellists to introduce themselves and share a little bit about their background in sharing disability information. To our panellists, just make sure you are off mute before you start speaking, because we might have muted you for the first 10 minutes.

We might start with Debbie.

DEBBIE: Hello everyone, I am a person with a disability, I have cerebral palsy (inaudible), that means I do everything with the left side of my body, that includes driving, changing my kids nappies, absolutely everything. I was actually 'Stepping Into' intern. in the first intake they had way back in the very early two thousands. So it is wonderful to be with you today and sharing my experience with disability sharing information.

With my disability, I do not really get a chance to not talk about it. It often enters the room before I do, especially when it is job interviews, because I get really nervous and stressed out, and my muscles get all tense and tight, you cannot miss it.

One of the things I have real trouble with is handshaking. And that is obviously one of the very first things that happens in the interview process, so straight away I come up against a rock and a hard place when I get into an interview. I have to think how I am going to get through this handshake to get through to the next part of the interview. That has always been pretty interesting for me.

I am looking forward to having a chat with everyone today, and ask me any questions that you have, I am very open to chat to you guys.

TESS WHELAN: Thank you, Debbie, I think your insights will be extremely valuable today, I am already intrigued about how you move past the handshake dilemma and all that type of thing. I am keen to hear more about your experiences. Evelyn, did you want to introduce yourself next?

EVELYN: Absolutely, thank you. Thank you to everyone for having me as part of this discussion today. I am very excited to talk to you all. I am part of the early careers talent acquisition team at Telstra. In terms of my background, I have been in human resources and recruitment for about 12 years now.

So, working in the recruitment field. In terms of the role I have now at Telstra, we work on the recruitment activities in the graduate recruitment space. Primarily our graduate programs and summer vacation programs.

We worked really hard to ensure that we have an inclusive workforce and an inclusive recruitment process. So it is our role to help support individuals through that recruitment process to remove any unintended barriers. As an organisation, Telstra prides itself on being one of 12 organisations that are a disability confident recruiters, and the second organisation I have worked with that have disability confident recruiters.

It was part of my last job as well, at that organisation we also had that accreditation, so working closely with candidates that liver disability to help support them through the process. That is what myself and my team have a really b focus on, so I am looking forward to answering any questions that anyone has today, and getting to know you all a little bit better, as well as Debbie and Luke.

TESS WHELAN: Thank you, I think your experience is going to be very valuable on today's panel, two disability confident recruitment status organisations means that you are fully equipped to answer all of the questions we have set out today.

EVELYN: We will see (laughs).

TESS WHELAN: Luke, did you want to introduce yourself?

LUKE: Certainly, that is not a hard act to follow, was it (laughs). Good morning everyone, I am the manager for inclusion and social procurement at Level Crossings Removal Project.

My role is, I have a team of four diversity inclusion advisors, and we look at making sure that all people across Victoria have the opportunity for participating in work with the public transport sector and also with construction and major infrastructure projects across Victoria. It has been an interesting journey for me, in another life I was a carer for adults living with cerebral palsy.

I have been around people with disability for most of my working life, and I have also been in the HR and recruitment and diversity inclusion space for about 15 years now. So, quite a while. Hopefully I can answer every question, or as many questions as I can this morning. I will certainly do my best. That is me.

TESS WHELAN: No pressure everyone (laughs). Anyone can pass at any time on the questions, this is a tricky topic, and one that people will have lots of questions about. Because it is such a complex one, and I am so grateful that you are all here to help us talk about it today.

We might start with Deb, if that's OK. Do you have any suggestions about sharing disability information in a way that does not negatively impact a recruitment process?

DEBBIE: Yes, I'm not sure if you can actually see me, I have got my camera on but I cannot use MS Teams that well. For me, disclosure is not just a one-time thing for me, and I think you mentioned that earlier in the presentation. I will disclose a little bit, and it is more of an evolving conversation that varies as time goes on.

I will explain I have cerebral palsy and use my left side. It depends, how much I disclose, as to who I am talking to at what place in the recruitment process I am at.

The decision, obviously, to talk about it is highly personal. You have to weigh it up with how that goes against the cost of not saying anything, if you have the choice of not saying anything. I think not saying you have a disability brings with it its own cost as well, it can take a personal toll on your ability to be authentic, be yourself.

You are expending a lot of emotional energy that would be better spent doing your job. As I said, that has never been an option for me because it is in your face right away when you meet me. It is an evolving conversation.

To make that point, in one of my first jobs, eight or nine months in, I had to travel, and I have never travelled by myself before. I did not think it through properly, I did not look up where I was staying. I just assumed, but because of my disability, I can't cut up my food so I need someone to do it for me or be able to go somewhere that can prepare food for me.

I assumed that would be available near where I was staying. When I got there, it was not, I had to go a full night and morning without eating because I hadn't thought about it. That taught me that when you travel, you have to know about these things and be more prepared.

Even eight or nine months into a job, being in your early to late 20s, you are still learning about yourself, it definitely evolves.

TESS WHELAN: Thank you, Debbie, it goes back to you sharing disability information at any time, you don't have to share it in the first week of your job, now, a year in… You could always start the conversation.

Evelyn, did you have anything to add?

EVELYN: It is really interesting to hear about Debbie's experiences and how it is an ever evolving conversation and we see that from a recruitment perspective and appreciate it is an individual decision for everyone.

From our perspective, I would really encourage anyone to disclose the information if they are comfortable to do so. We are wanting to support you. If there are elements of the recruitment process you feel you need adjustments for, if we have that affirmation from the outset, we can have support for individuals – it is a case-by-case situation.

At Telstra we have pro diversity targets, we want to be an organisation who are hiring individuals living with a disability because we want to bring about diversity and adversity of thought. It is something we want to proactively do and support individuals living with a disability.

If individuals are comfortable, I would support them to share it, I can tell you about what we do at Telstra to support individuals with disability, but in terms of sharing information, I would encourage it, we want to support people through the process, and not just through the recruitment process, but while they are on the job as well.

TESS WHELAN: Great, thank you Evelyn. Luke, how do you suggest that people share disability information, and make sure it does not have a negative impact?

LUKE: I think one thing, going back to what Evelyn said, a point she mentioned, if you don't disclose, and we don't have the data, it is very hard to try and go back to executive levels and influence that we need to make these changes, and that organisations need to be disability-confident.

That would be the first point I would say. Certainly, in terms of sharing information and making sure it does not impact negatively, the first thing I would say is, as a candidate, always make sure, what I would suggest, you mentioned this in your earlier PowerPoint, you want to make sure the organisation is set up to support you. You want to make sure the organisation has the same aligning values in terms of supporting people with a disability, people from different backgrounds, and making sure that the organisation, the people leaders, are confident, asking the right questions and be able to have the conversations to support best.

That is what I would say firstly. Secondly, especially in the interview or onboarding process to start with, it is the strength of a good recruitment team to be able to facilitate those conversations. Working out what candidates or new employees want to disclose, if they are willing to disclose anything, then making sure the people leaders are comfortable with supporting those people coming in.

TESS WHELAN: Really great points there, Luke. We need to make sure it is a supportive environment. Sometimes the level of support doesn't make too much impact, but sometimes it makes the difference between being happy or not happy at work.

Luke, we may stay with you, I might just ask what you think the advantage is focusing on adjustments is, rather than speaking about diagnoses and disability?

LUKE: I really like this concept, it focuses on the ability of people rather than their disability. I think if you have a role, you are the right person for the role, regardless of whatever your background is, you are the right candidate for that role, the right employee for the team.

I think what it boils down to is, making sure you are setting someone up for success. Really, when you are focusing on those adjustments, it is about having those conversations with your manager, making sure your manager is open to being able to support you best, so you can be the best you can be at work.

TESS WHELAN: Great, really important stuff there. Evelyn, what is the advantage at Telstra, do you think, focusing on the adjustment side of things?

EVELYN: For us we understand and respect we would never focusing on the type of disability, but the type of adjustment. To the point Luke made, setting the individual up for success, being able to support them in the best possible way, and how we can. Often it is challenging ourselves to think how we can do things differently than we set out to do, or can the role be done in a different way? Challenging our own thinking when it comes to recruitment or a hiring manager perspective, taking into consideration that we are not comparing individuals on the same basis all the time. Some individuals may have impact with their academic results or the type of work experience they have had as a result of the disability – taking that on a case-by-case basis.

Women focus on the adjustment is we can challenge ourselves and set people up for success, rather than having them come through a standard process that may not be suitable for them or their individual needs. For us, focusing on adjustments is really important so we can get the best support we can.

LUKE: To further what Evelyn is saying, it is important to have the opportunity to look at what the person brings in as their strengths, and trying not to be so rigid with what the role looks like. This particular piece of this role may not lend to the strength of what this new employee has, but someone else in the team can do it, but this person brings another whole skill set that actually compliments the rest of the team.

It is really about being flexible in what that looks like for the role as well, not being so rigid. That comes with a lot of work in those early stages with the recruitment teams in putting together what the role looks like, and being able to be flexible in that approach.

TESS WHELAN: That is really great, being flexible in all recruitment processes is something that all organisations are striving toward – it is great to hear that Telstra and the Level Crossing Removal Project are really doing that. I love having the adjustments in the recruitment process and work is all about setting your employee up for success – that is a great alignment and something to think about when you are sharing disability information.

Debbie, did you have anything to add about any of that?

DEBBIE: I agree with everything that Luke and Evelyn said. I just wanted to say, don't focus on the disability, you all experience it differently. You and I may have the same disability, but now I am older, I may need more adjustments than you do – we all experience it really differently and you can't make a generalisation based on a disability.

Your adjustments are about your individual terms, in order to conduct your job, that makes it a little bit easier. I also wanted to add, I didn't know what adjustments I needed when I was coming out of university and trying to get an internship and graduate employment.

That may sound strange, you would think that I would by then, but I didn't know about assistive technology and that kind of stuff. I remember, on my first day stepping into an internship, I had a lady come and do an assessment with me and tell me about all these different things that would make my life so much easier. It did, and I still use that stuff today. You don't always need to know what the adjustments may be, people can help you figure it out.

TESS WHELAN: Great point, adjustments are continuous learning as well. We have a lot of students who feel like that. If you are out there and don't feel you are not too sure what adjustments you need, it is a matter of having a conversation and saying, I think we can try this, and evaluating if it works.

There is always new things coming onto the market as well. There is no point being in your 20s and saying these are the adjustments I need, and by the time you are 40 you need completely different adjustments because there are completely different things on the market and workplaces will be completely different. As we have seen with COVID-19, the way we work is changing, making sure disability informs adjustments – a great point.

Debbie, do you have one reason why you think people should share disability information?

DEBBIE: Yes. My one reason would be you can't be what you can't see, if can't you see others in open employment with a disability doing what you want to do, you don't know how to strive to get higher in employment.

If you disclose, it helps it not be a taboo subject. You find people with a disability in open employment and see there is a pathway forward for you.

TESS WHELAN: An interesting idea, I had not thought of it, it paves the way for the next generation – a powerful thing. Luke, do you have one reason why you would encourage people to share?

LUKE: I would come at it from the point of view of being a manager and having people disclose with me, and what it felt like for them. One reason to do that, it creates a better working relationship with you and your manager. It gives your manager the opportunity to make those adjustments so that it works for you.

It also opens that dialogue. In time those things change. As Debbie said, when she first came into the workforce to wear she is now, adjustments look very different for her. If you created that relationship, and you have been able to disclose and are confident to do it, it opens the door for that discussion to continuously be had so it evolves as you are in your role.

I think that is ultimately going to contribute to your success along the way.

TESS WHELAN: I will go back to what you just said, Luke. I will ask Evelyn what her one reason is first.

EVELYN: I think I am just echoing what Debbie and Luke said, reiterating what is around my opinion, removing any unintended barriers that might end up being there. We might not be aware that there are barriers for some individuals to the point where someone is not able to do a particular part of the job, but they can do 90% of it, and somebody else can do the other 10%.

As a team, we can help have those conversations and remove those unintended barriers, and I also think, to Deb's point, when we focus on adjustments, we can provide examples of the different types of adjustments we have made in the past, whether that be in the recruitment process or on-the-job.

That is different for every individual as well, and is on a case-by-case basis. We cannot say that because you have X disability that we will give you an X adjustment, it is on a case-by-case basis to remove any unintended barriers that we may have, that we are unaware are there.

TESS WHELAN: A great point, recruiters do not know what they don't know, if you don't tell them, they won't know. So, if an adjustment is helpful, the best thing to do might be to flag that in certain situations. Back to what Luke was saying about working relationships.

I might just open it up to anyone on the panel. How do you be your authentic self in an interview process when you feel you cannot tell your whole story? How does being your authentic self relate to sharing disability information?

DEBBIE: I will jump in here. I think it is a really difficult one, because if you cannot be your authentic self then you just do not feel 100% confident in this situation, and it is as much an audition for you when you are having an interview, you are auditioning your employers as well.

If you are not feeling it at that point, you kind of have to think about it and say, is this going to be the right spot for me going forwards? It can be very, very difficult.

What you need to consider, and it is something that you said earlier, Tess, is, know your story. Where is your power actually come from? I think you will find that your power actually comes from having a disability and dealing with it throughout your life.

As you said, your disability has taught you so many things, and I will give you three of them for free. It is persistence, patience and creativity. That is your power and that is your story.

I think you should feel confident in sharing your story as it is unique to you and no one else had that story. That is what I am looking for as a hiring manager, I am looking for that unique story and how you will fit into my team.

LUKE: I will go a little bit further to say that that is so very true. When you have already got to the interview process and given your experience, so really, you are coming in as a candidate to the recruitment process, going into an interview, you are actually interviewing that organisation as well, to make sure they actually align with what you want out of your career and what you want out of your future goals.

I think that is really important to know that part, so that it shifts in your mind, rather than going in, I guess, wondering what they can do for you. It's what you can do for them. I think that is a really important shift in people's minds. I also think that before you go in, do some of that prep work.

Have a look at the organisation, what are their goals and their values that are under pinning what they want for their people, and how does that fit with your story and what you want?

I think if you come to an interview and you show why you have that motivation to work for that particular organisation, that will shine above your experience as well.

EVELYN: To add to that, I think to get to an interview, if we look at this pace in internships and graduate programs and you have tons of applications and you have to go through numerous different steps to even get to an interview, it is a great feat in itself just to get to an interview, and you have demonstrated some really great skills to make it that far, so it is having the confidence when you get to the interview, knowing that you have demonstrated a lot of skills just to get to that point in the process.

For some individuals it might be more apparent as to their disability, and for others it may not be, when it comes to interviews. I think some of the examples we have had in some of the individuals we have interviewed recently who have indicated they live with disability, they have been able to provide really good examples from their experiences as a result of living with disability and really being able to stand out and demonstrate great skills that we have been looking for.

If I focus on individual we have hired for a graduate program for next year, they are an individual who suffered from a brain haemorrhage and lost the ability to walk, talk and speak. Obviously, a part of our recruitment process, we cannot do through that standard recruitment process, video assessments, online assessments, that would just not be possible. When they got to the interview, we did an interview over chat, so they typed in their responses rather than talking to them.

The feedback from the interview panel was amazing, their stories, what they were able to achieve, and demonstrated that skills that we were looking for, and still built rapport and having a laugh with the interview panel as well. So bring your whole self to the interview I think is really important.

Like Debbie and Luke said, it is certainly a two-way street. Not just whether you are suitable for the role, it is around you deciding is that the type of organisation that you want to work for, do they have a culture that you would be interested in working for? Do they hold your values? It is definitely a two-way street when it comes to the interview process, and part of that is bringing your authentic self to the interview, if you are comfortable doing that.

TESS WHELAN: Great advice from all of our panellists there. Thank you everyone, I think everyone will have found that extremely valuable. Now we have our lightning round, so something that the students have indicated to us in the past that they really do want to know about is sharing disability information in application processes. It is going to be quick, and we will mash through them.

Firstly, when an application asks to tick the disability box, should you tick it?

EVELYN: I would encourage yes, because that way we can reach out to you throughout the recruitment process, we can see if you feel you need any adjustments. To Debbie's point, you might not know what you don't know, the typical types of adjustments we have made in the past, that everything is a case-by-case basis. The quick answer is, I would encourage individuals to do that.

LUKE: I would back that up by saying that an organisation that is asking that is asking how they are going to be able to support you. I think firstly, that that their motivation is right, so you set yourself up for the right organisation, but I would say yes because it helps with that process for sure.

TESS WHELAN: How does Telstra support people during the graduate recruitment process?

EVELYN: If I look at our graduate recruitment process, if anyone has indicated disability from the outset when they completed their application, we have got a whole team, so eight individuals on the team. We would work with actually personally reaching out to anyone indicated living with disability, we will walk them through the recruitment process.

What each step is likely to look like, talk them through it and ask how they would feel about completing each of those steps, whether they feel that they might need any type of adjustment for any of the various different stages. We also talk about what other different types of adjustments that we have implemented in the past for individuals that are living with disability.

That means we can set it up. Like I said, it is very much case-by-case. Everyone will be different, but we do communicate in an appropriate manner with every individual in terms of what the recruitment process looks like and how we can then support them in the best possible way.

TESS WHELAN: Luke, did you have anything to add to that? What does the Level Crossings do to support graduates in that process?

LUKE: Very similar to what Evelyn is suggesting. Working very closely with individuals to identify what their needs are and what they would like to disclose. The other thing we try to do is we really try to make sure that the teams that we are putting candidates and interns into, we want to make sure that those leaders are disability confidence, so they understand the complexities that come with that, and being able to be confident to ask questions and be flexible, and make changes.

I think it is also making sure that you have got, from within the organisation, the leaders and people that are open to all suggestions and all of those changes.

TESS WHELAN: Definitely. Gaps in resumes and core academic results as result of disability, what does Level Crossings stand on this, does it affect anything?

LUKE: It is a tough one, but again, it comes down to education of the people in the recruitment team. So our recruitment team has worked really hard to make sure that they are open to all of those barriers that come up. I also think, when we are talking about the intern process, we are really looking at skills and experiences of what that person has done, so what they can bring to the role that we want to fill.

I think that is probably our first point of call.

TESS WHELAN: Great.

EVELYN: I would second that, it is about that skill and experience, and it is about the recruitment team taking a holistic view of the application, and not just looking at it in a silo of academic results, it is looking at the individual and the skills that they can bring.

LUKE: At the end of the day, if an organisation recruitment team cannot do that, it is probably not the best place that you want to be anyway. That is my take on it.

TESS WHELAN: You can always make an annotation as well to say, " this was due to an illness," or something more vague. My last question, Luke and Evelyn, if someone does have a tough conversation or sharing disability information does not go the way that they would like it to, where should someone go?

LUKE: Do you want to jump in to the recruitment space, Evelyn?

EVELYN: In terms of having that conversation, I think it is really important to be as open as you can, if you feel you have not got the support that you need, I think obviously looking… When I think about the recruitment space, there is always a contact that you will have on their, for example Telstra as an organisation, we have a graduate recruitment program in box where we want to communicate with candidates on a one-to-one basis.

If you had a conversation did not go as well as you expected, or you want further information or you want to speak to someone else, there are different contact points as well. I would hope that that would not happen in Telstra as an organisation, but if you want to share information via a different medium, perhaps you had a phone conversation and you wanted to follow up an email or vice versa, there is always another contact to reach out to. So make sure you research the website to find that kind of information.

We have got that information on our website about adjustments we have made for individuals living with disability in the past, that kind of information is on our website, that will help to steer people into having those conversations.

LUKE: I think once you are in the organisation, that is where I can come in, the 'Stepping Into' program, you have people from AND to support when needed. You talk to your HR people, they are across all of these things and want to make sure everyone is successful and has the best expense they can.

Certainly, the other thing I think Tess mentioned early on in the conversation, around where if you have got a mentor or someone in the business there to support you. It might be about floating ideas with their mentor first about how to have an extra conversation, or if you don't think that conversation will work, how do I bring that to the attention of a HR representative to make this a better place for me to work in?

TESS WHELAN: Great, thank you so much everyone for today's insights. Unfortunately, we have run out of time for questions. What I would say is, if you have any questions and want to talk about your individual circumstances in sharing disability information, feel free to email [email protected]. Rosie will put that in the chat, we can talk to you about your specific circumstances and are happy to provide that support.

I want to thank everyone for attending the session today, particularly our guest speakers, Luke, Evelyn and Debbie. Thank you so much for attending the session today, if you have further questions, as I said, about what we have spoken about today, feel free to reach out to our team.

Thank you, everyone, we might leave it there.

LUKE: Thank you.

EVELYN: Thank you, everyone.

TESS WHELAN: Goodbye.