Meeting uncertainty with humor

Is it okay for people with disabilities to make fun of themselves? And is it okay for colleagues to laugh when they do? Werner says yes. He doesn’t mean to stir up controversy but rather to assure people. “People are often afraid at first. They’re not sure how to interact with me. I always recommend that they just ask, just talk to me.”

Werner has no problem with being blind because he’s learned to live with his blindness all his life. He was born without sight. He attended a school for the blind where he earned his mid-level secondary school leaving certificate and then completed vocational training in office management at the Vocational School for the Blind, followed by a foundation year in Nuremberg. Then, in 2019, he was offered a job at Siemens Healthineers. “That was a great day. I’ve marked it on the calendar,” Werner says with a smile.

He quickly finds his way around the office and elsewhere. “Of course, everything’s unfamiliar at first, and I have to ask where things are. But I get a handle on the space pretty fast, so I don’t always have to ask,” says Werner. He learns to match names to voices very quickly, and to recognize each of his coworkers. For him, the voice is the most important identifying feature.

For Werner, the logistics of working from home are the same as working at the office since a PC with assistive technology is his standard means of communication. For example, on his computer he uses a Braille display, an output device specifically designed for blind people that allows him to read what is on the screen in Braille. The screen reader can also provide speech output.

Usually, Werner says, nondisabled people are very careful, sometimes even hesitant when interacting with disabled people. “So far I have had only positive experiences here at Siemens Healthineers. That might be because I try to diffuse people’s anxiety with jokes and a bit of self-deprecation.” His coworkers have learned to read out certain information in video conferences, such as the data on PowerPoint slides, to give Werner acoustic access to it. “Otherwise I just ask, and everyone’s okay with that, too,” says Werner.

He felt at home at Siemens Healthineers from the beginning. “An IT specialist installed the assistive technologies on my computer so I could get right to work.” Disabled employees’ representative Anna Haberkorn-Wittner helps with matters relating to inclusion and integration: “At Siemens Healthineers, we have developed and adopted an inclusion agreement for all of Germany. Together with our management, we’re doing everything we can to integrate disabled employees as best we possibly can.”

Werner likes his workspace, but he knows that it’s not easy everywhere. He knows the importance of communicating and overcoming preconceptions that aren’t always expressed openly. “My recommendation is: Be aware of concerns and fears and ask questions. That’s true for disabled and nondisabled people alike. Just take the risk and rather ask too many questions than too few. It’s not just about a colleague’s disability but about getting to know a person better. That’s how respect grows.”