Meet Gemma Clay, another of our Mosaic champions. She is an assistant in our Human Resources team who deals with queries from our employees and supports our advisers and managers with employee relations queries.
She became a Mosaic champion because she felt everyone deserves to be heard and she wanted to promote a diverse working environment. But her family situation means she is particularly interested in disability issues.
‘My daughter contracted meningitis at the age of one and later had parts of both feet amputated as a result,’ she said. ‘For years we have struggled to get the right support for her as, quite often, she is seen as looking ‘normal.’
‘Recently she has also been diagnosed as having an acquired brain injury. This is an invisible disability but, just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it is not there and we have fought for five years to get a diagnosis and get the support in place so she can have the same opportunities as her peers.
‘We all deserve the right to a safe place to work or study regardless of disability and I believe having a disability should not prevent us from being the best we can be.
‘I have taught my daughter that, regardless of her disability, she can shine just like her peers. Her journey might be more difficult right now but, hopefully, in the future we can eradicate the stigma of being disabled.
‘Diversity is important in the workplace because we are not all the same and we cannot be expected to be. We need a diverse environment where we can be ourselves and not feel the need to be someone else.
‘Everyone looks for that acceptance in life and often people feel the need to change who they are to become accepted. If people no longer have to do this, it will help greatly with their mental health.
‘In the future It would be great if we did not have to speak about diversity and inclusion because we have moved forward and the issues don’t exist anymore.
‘It is likely that this will take a long time to happen but the more schemes like Mosaic are introduced to businesses and people from all backgrounds really feel they can speak up and join in, the quicker it will be possible to bring equality to all workplaces.’
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