Having started working with GET in 2019, her professional development was interupted by the covid pandemic but she persevered with online courses and remote support. 

As well as finding a permanent part time job at Waitrose, she has completed a work experience placement at Guernsey Post, which went so well it was extended. 

"Just after the pandemic finished, I started working at Waitrose. I work part time on the checkout at Admiral Park,” said Rosa, who added that the supermarket has been a very supportive employer. 

"When I went in, they had a health questionnaire that I filled out online and they made adjustments and they moved me from a different place so they made a lot of arrangements. 

"It's also good, because I've got the work and I know it's there, and I know I can do the work.” 

Pictured (l-r): Niamh from Guernsey Post, Nikki and Kate from GET, and Rosa. 

Rosa’s work placement at Guernsey Post was very different to her ongoing role at Waitrose, meaning she learned new skills and even ended up training some of her co-workers. 

"It was very different. Initially at the beginning, I shadowed different people. I was in the customer service department. So basically, if the post goes missing, you ring them up and you go ‘here's the tracking number’ and they find it. And if you don't have a tracking number, you're a bit lost! They sort of play investigators and locate where the parcel is.” 

GET worked with Rosa and Guernsey Post and the Guernsey Blind Association to find ways of working, sometimes using new technologies to enable Rosa to do her work independently. 

“They had a training phone so that I would use it. They'd plug it into the phone so I could listen in because of my eyesight, I couldn't use the actual buttons.” 

She also used an app to scan documents with her phone dictating the text back to her and was able to do simple things like expanding her computer screen to be able to better read the text which was something she taught a colleague how to do. 

Pictured: GET and Guernsey Post worked with Rosa and the Guernsey Blind Association to find resources.

"It was really good. It felt good. It was like they were teaching me and I was teaching them. So it was not just one sided, so it was really good.” 

Niamh from Guernsey Post said these adjustments benefited the workplace as well as Rosa.  

"We've got quite a big admin floor, different departments, Rosa works in customer services, and we've got IT. We've got loads of different areas that people can come and experience, and it's important to us that we are an inclusive employer. 

"That's why we got involved with GET, to make sure that we were doing everything we could to make sure that we were being inclusive and thinking about all of the reasonable adjustments that we could make things that we could bring in. 

"Before Rosa came in, we had a meeting so she could come and have a look around the office, look at our IT set up, look at our phone set up and just see what adjustments we would need to make in order for her to have a good experience with us, and so that she could do as much as possible when she was working with us.” 

Speaking directly to Rosa, Niamh was full of praise for the progress she made at Guernsey Post and for what she brought to the team. 

"You got some really, really good feedback from the team. You definitely had an impact. You work really hard. You got involved in absolutely everything that you could. 

“It's a really big benefit to us as an employer because those managers that are helping these work experience clients, they get that understanding of the reasonable adjustments and any sort of additional support that people need as well. 

"Reasonable adjustments’ are something that every employer will be required to make under the new anti-discrimination legislation coming in October." 

Pictured: 'Reasonable adjustments' in the work place can include things like sit/stand desks.

Niamh said for an office like Guernsey Post that has already seen them introduce sit/stand desks, bigger monitors and keyboards, braille application forms and other minor changes which can have a big impact on the diversity of the workforce. There are also mental health first aiders and Guernsey Post have provided workplace talks on sleeping and healthy eating.  

"For us, it's really looking at the needs of the person that's coming in, seeing what more we can do to support them,” said Niamh who believes it is paying off as Guernsey Post enjoys a high level of staff retention with numerous people clocking up long service lengths. 

Rosa said she would encourage anyone else looking for work to see what support GET can offer them – and she’d also recommend Guernsey Post, and Waitrose as employers. 

"Definitely, because they've got to really know me well and also know what my disability issues are, so they know them in depth. It's not just surface level. 

“Guernsey Post was amazing and literally anything they were like ‘let's try this’ because we went about halfway through to the Blind Association, and ironically the most simple thing I felt was a pen that made the most difference, and some little sticky dots on the mouse now, but yes they were amazing. They let me try anything."

Tomorrow: The GET Disability Charter and how you can get involved

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PROFILE: GETting people into work