A few years ago, you may remember I was offered a job, and then it was rescinded because they found out I was disabled. I tried to lodge complaints, but they kept saying they had internally found that they were good people who had done nothing wrong. It went about as well as you’d expect for people who can “investigate” themselves. As much as I wanted those bastards to (literally) pay for what they had done, I still had to find a new job and keep a roof over my head. I had to cease the complaints processes because I was not staffed to respond.
At one point their staff emailed me to ask what the job reference number was for the job that they rescinded from me. I told them to go look it up themselves or ask among the government. Basically, fuck off and don’t ask me to do your job for you.
And that really hits on the point I’ve been wanting to make for years.
Complaints processes are not equitable or reasonable.
For one, individuals are not staffed to do this work. Businesses (or government) are.
Individuals do not have databases of information. For example, we do not have a searchable database of jobs we can loo up, and even if there is some kind of saved log in data, the data is not the same in the front end vs the back end. Individuals usually have access to less data, and the access to the data may be behind a paywall or have other limitations.
Reasonable time frames are also written for those in power. For example, if you have an entire complaints branch, getting all documentation together within a week may be reasonable. For an individual, who still has to run the rest of their life, we may need four weeks. Or even longer if you have intersecting complications such as disability.
If you ever wonder why you can’t win, don’t look at this as an individual deficit. Disabled people have a higher burden of bureaucracy, administration, and paperwork to manage, and that’s on top of our conditions. The system is literally stacked against you.
