Clifford Chance

Understanding the lived experience of our colleagues is central to our disability inclusion strategy. It raises awareness of visible and non visible disabilities and debunks the myths around the umbrella term of ‘disability’. To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we have created a series – ‘Enable: My Lived Experience’ where we speak to our colleagues to find out about their own, or family members’, lived experience to discover what it means for them in their day-to-day role at Clifford Chance. This week we speak to Emily Hier.

Hi Emily! Tell us about your role at Clifford Chance.

I am a Senior Executive in the firm’s global Digital Marketing team having joined in 2018. I look after our global social media accounts and strategy. I have led on a number of firm campaigns in the digital space, including #WeThe15, sport’s largest human rights campaign to raise awareness of the 15% of the people in the world (that’s c1.2 billion people) with a disability. You may have heard about it during this year’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo!

Tell us about your disability.

I was born partially deaf, although for the first couple years of my life no one knew what was wrong with me. I never made a sound as a baby which was unusual! I was also born with a small cleft palate which was successfully operated on the day after I was born.

I’ve had several operations over the years (thanks to our National Health Service in the UK) to ‘fix’ my hearing and nothing took. When I was 16, my doctor told me about bone anchored hearing aids, otherwise known as BAHAs. These are surgically implanted devices which treat hearing loss through bone conduction of sound vibrations to the inner ear and can be clipped on and off where needed. It sounded like the perfect solution and I was so desperate to fit in with my school friends and feel ‘normal’ I agreed to the operation immediately. Looking back, I’m not sure if those were the right reasons to do it, but having the operation changed my life and enabled me to go to university and get the career I wanted to have.

Are there any common misconceptions about being deaf?

People tend to assume I know sign language or can read lips – I tried to learn sign language at school but given my lack of hand / eye co-ordination I soon gave up (which I regret now!). I can read lips a little, but I really depend on my hearing aids to get by, as well as visual clues the person I’m speaking to gives me (e.g. seeing the speaker’s mouth).

I also get the occasional person saying “wow, you don’t look deaf”. To be fair, my hair covers up my hearing aids, but what is a deaf person supposed to look like? Many people have hidden disabilities. At the end of the day we just want to be treated with the same amount of respect as everyone else.

How has Clifford Chance enabled you to work and thrive and how have you enabled yourself?

I was enormously shy as a child and still am to some degree. In all my previous jobs I hid my disability, which meant I didn’t speak up when I had problems – for example, I can’t use a normal office phone because the sound is often too low. When I interviewed for Clifford Chance, I decided to be completely open about my disability and as a result I felt more confident going into the interview. I also met with our wonderful Health & Safety Manager Tracey Williams on my first day to go over my accessibility needs and she ensured I felt comfortable with my set up. I was provided with a mobile phone as a workaround to not being able to use a normal office phone – my hearing aids can connect to the phone via Bluetooth which makes it easy to dial into meetings and tune out background noise.

One of the things that has made a really difference to me is the use of live close captioning functionality available in some of our conferencing and events tools. This has made a huge difference to me as I feel more included during meetings and events. I know that our affinity network Enable, IT and our Events team have championed the use of subtitles and that Enable is continuing to make things more accessible across Clifford Chance as part of its strategy. This includes exploring workplace adjustments, our website and intranet, our policies and processes and assistive technologies, a huge collaborative effort! I’m excited to be part of this journey and see the positive action and change that is happening within the firm.

How has the pandemic affected you?

Face masks are the bane of my life! They muffle the sound from your mouth and I struggle to talk to anyone wearing one, particularly if they tend to speak with a quieter voice. However, as they are keeping us safe during the pandemic I can put up with them for a while longer!

What is one piece of advice you would give to other who might be concerned about sharing their lived experience with the firm or with the wider world?

It’s completely up to you whether you share information about your impairment or condition at work – there is no right or wrong time. Do what feels comfortable for you. I used to worry that people would judge me or think lesser of me for having a disability, but I look at it as a positive thing in my life.