It was enough to drive her mad when she worked at the Biobank. In the laboratory at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life sciences (FMHL), there was a fridge emitting a constant hum. For Cobelens, who wears hearing aids, the hum was unbearable. “You can’t filter the noise with hearing aids. It’s all transmitted,” she told participants at the workshop last Monday, including HR advisers, members of the Health and Safety services, and the Diversity Office.
Headphones playing a constant chatter are passed round so that the participants can experience what it’s like to wear a hearing aid. Like being at a party with people talking on all sides, but you’re not exactly sure who’s actually speaking to you. Exhausting, as it turns out after a few minutes. And what is it like to hear (almost) nothing? Cobelens hands out earbuds, the noise is instantly muted and it’s hard to follow what is being said. People immediately start to talk more softly. “It’s like you turn inward and don’t count anymore”, is the reaction.
Exhausted
Cobelens felt the same. She spoke to her supervisor about it more than once, but felt unheard. “I thought I was alone,” she says. “I kept working harder to prove myself. That led to me turning more and more inward.” She gave her all to show that she was a valuable member of the team, in spite of her disability. As well as working at the university, she was training to become an occupational therapist. Until she couldn’t cope anymore. “In 2018, I was just done. I couldn’t do it any longer.”
For a long time, Cobelens’s burn-out was thought to have been the result of the amount of work she was doing, but after an investigation by an expert, it turns out that the real cause was the noise at her workstation. Cobelens eventually turns to HR adviser Pierre Schröder, who wants to help her, but is unsure how to tackle the situation. “I wasn’t always aware of the problems she was facing.” He gives the intercom as an example, which visitors use to announce themselves but Cobelens can’t use.
Eventually, Cobelens was unable to continue working at the university. “That was not fun,” she admits. “There’s a lot of pain, although I do have a pretty good sense of humour. I want to tell my story to pave the way for the people with a disability – particularly hearing impairment – who will come after me at the university.” This is something she now uses her new job to do: she is the only occupational therapist specialised in working with people with a hearing impairment.
Independence
“There is so much ignorance,” acknowledges Schröder, “people are often afraid to discuss it with their supervisor or with HR. The barrier is too high, so how do we make sure that is lowered?” Fewer rules, simplified protocols, don’t worry about what it costs is the consensus amongst the participants. “And don’t make people too dependent,” adds Cobelens. “A disability doesn’t mean people are stupid, but they are often treated that way.”
Cobelens’s lesson has been a valuable one for UM. A policy is being developed for people with a disability, says Netty Bekkers on behalf of the Diversity & Inclusivity Office. “We’re on the cusp of a giant leap forward in the participation of people with a disability, the university should be a place where you feel welcome.” Or as Schröder puts it: “It’s not a question of ‘at what cost’, but ‘for whose benefit’.”