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“Disability activist and founder and CEO of accessibility consultancy Tilting the Lens, Sinéad Burke often says that people with disabilities are engineers by design, and I love that because we are. Every day when we leave our house there is some hurdle we have to jump over and work our way around.”
Twenty-five-year-old Niamh Donnelly is passionately speaking through her Zoom camera, recounting her own experience as someone with a disability and how now, as a trainee solicitor at Eversheds Sutherland, she’s advocating for a more inclusive work environment, especially in law.
“I was born with a condition called albinism,” Niamh explains. “So I have no pigmentation in my skin, hair or eyes. Because of this, I am significantly visually impaired and am classed as legally blind.” This along with a few other conditions like nystagmus (repetitive, uncontrolled eye movements) and photophobia (sensitivity to light), means she needs assistance with some day-to-day activities. This could be anything from using a magnifier to read or asking a stranger to help wave down a bus.”
From there, Niamh secured a four-week internship at Eversheds Sutherland in 2021 where she found an equally inclusive environment. “It’s coveted to get internships in all the big law firms, so I was absolutely thrilled to get the spot. I really enjoyed it. It was during COVID and it was all online, so I asked if anyone wanted to volunteer in Barretstown together for a day. I met my fellow interns and it was one of the highlights of the programme.”
Volunteering has always been a huge part of Niamh’s life, first as a teenager in her local youth club in Leitrim organising events and then in her college with the Access Office. After her internship, she returned to Maynooth University to coordinate Launchpad and did some more work with them before Eversheds invited her to return as a practice intern on secondment for two years before starting her training contract.
“I was incredibly naive before I joined Eversheds. I had some legal experience in a boutique law firm in Leitrim, and I was expecting the corporate world to be this really scary environment where people were out for themselves. But, my biggest takeaway from the internship was how friendly everyone was. They were all willing to help, answering emails straight away and supporting me where needed. And when I started in-office at the firm, that was maintained. They have an open-door policy, so you can just walk into a partner’s office and ask a question, and it’s perfectly encouraged. I’ve always felt welcome there.
“They’ve gone above and beyond to make sure my needs were met in terms of my disability. When I was doing the FE-1 exams as an intern they made sure I had appropriate time to study. I needed more time than my colleagues because when I’m studying I can’t glance at things – I need my magnifier and things like that. So I needed extra time off work on study leave and they were willing to give me that no problem. In fact, anything I needed, they were always there to make my experience more comfortable.”
Fast forward to today, and Niamh and I were delighted to see Eversheds pledge as an ally in action. The law firm organised a talk with one of Niamh’s role models, advocate for disability and design Sinéad Burke, to discuss disability in the workplace and how we can create an environment with equal access. Gathered in a small conference room, Sinéad took the stage to raise these issues, as well as offer solutions for businesses in this area.
“If we have principles that make people feel less than, we should change them,” Sinéad said, holding the rapt attention of the entire room. “The average workplace is not designed for disabled people to succeed. It is the workplace that is disabled, not the person themselves.” She went on to discuss how we can change this by “challenging that mindset from the top down” by designing workplaces that offer inclusivity, access and supports for everyone. Sinéad went on to share her experience as a little person, someone with a visible disability, and how it has impacted her extraordinary life path as a teacher, writer, fashion admirer and entrepreneur.
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This idea of a visible versus non-visible disability is something Niamh has experienced firsthand. As she mentioned previously, she was often bullied as a child for her then ‘visible’ disability. However, as she’s gotten older, and her disability is less noticeable, Niamh often experiences mistreatment for a different reason, whether it’s a cyclist who’s upset she didn’t move out of their way or a driver who ran a red light and almost hit her when she crosses the road – they don’t realise she has a visual impairment. This is why Niamh often uses a symbol cane; rather than a walking aid, it symbolises she can’t see. “It’s for my safety because I’ve gotten abuse from more people than I can count, and for me, commuting can be dangerous.”
Building on Sinéad’s earlier point about being “an engineer by design”, Niamh explains that “the world is not designed for me. I am not disabled because I was born with albinism. I am disabled because of how society was built. And it’s not built for me, so I have to figure out a way to work things. Every day there’s something I have to do whether it’s cooking food, catching the bus or using my phone that I have to figure out on my own. If I have to go somewhere new, I have to plan ahead; I need to map out the route and memorise it and things like that. It’s a process – but I love the challenge. And that’s the thing… we accept and embrace challenges when we have disabilities because we have to.”