Colleague Stories

Keeping accessibility at the heart

Hey Charles, tell us a bit about yourself

Hi. I am a 60-year-old married man, who has always lived in and around the Glasgow area of Scotland. My wife Marie and I have one grown up daughter, who lives in Bucharest, Romania, with her husband and two beautiful daughters. 

My story is one of contending with- and overcoming- visual disability. Diagnosed with incurable Retinitis Pigmentosa when I was a toddler, I had extremely limited vision at that time, with the prospect I would lose that too, in adolescent years. Despite the latter prophecy happening, I nevertheless persevered at school, attained top grades, and went on to secure a Joint Honours master’s degree and subsequent Postgraduate Diploma at university. I was increasingly using technology, helping me find “workarounds” and enabling me to overcome life’s everyday challenges. Of course, what we know today as “assistive technology” was very primitive back then, however, if you have determination to get up and go, despite what is going on around you, there is a much bigger chance of a good outcome.

I began working for the Bank in July 1989, when it was still Clydesdale Bank. Following completion of my university career, I got a job at Clydesdale quickly, initially, as an Analyst-Programmer. Although I am officially a Business Analyst now, I was not always in that role. I started out doing a lot more programming than analysis and that was indeed interesting and challenging, especially when using a screen reader. I worked on a lot of desktop systems during the early years and, remarkably, some of these are still in operation, three decades on from when I helped create them!
In 2007, the team I was working with was outsourced to India and I had a choice of looking at other roles, internally, within the Bank, or leaving and taking my chances elsewhere. Thankfully, some full-blown Business Analyst roles were available and, when I applied, I was successful. Since then, I have worked on a number of major initiatives, including Rebrand and gathering requirements, for our new Bothwell Street hub in Glasgow.

I like the Business Analyst role as you have more opportunity to think and to be creative. When programming, you tend to be given a specification and must work through that, in a more solitary way. The Business Analyst role involves a lot more contact with people, managing stakeholders and their expectations. It also opens opportunities to work on more diverse projects and to help influence decisions.

Although still classed as a Business Analyst, I have lately been involved in a lot more consultancy work, especially in the arena of accessibility, encouraging our business and development communities to be more invested in Inclusive Design practices. This has seen much fruit, as I have been able to significantly influence the creation of our new mobile banking application, making it accessible to all types of customers, regardless of their abilities and challenges.

You do a lot for the Bank in the inclusion space and are proactive within our colleague network communities. Tell us a bit about the work you have done to help drive accessibility. 

Colleague Networks are much more prominent in our organisation, but back in 2012, not much was happening. The “Enable” Network allowed some colleagues, contending with various disabilities and health issues, to come together and to support one another. Talk is good at times, however, little was happening beyond that. Using a model from the Vibrant Network and support from its founder, I put the Enable Network on a surer footing, and we found that we could then use some influence to help shape decisions that Bank Leadership teams were making, for moving the organisation forward. The biggest success we have had was to put forward requirements for our new Bothwell Street hub, from a disability perspective. I was extremely impressed that most of our recommendations were taken on board, and, as a result, we now have a state-of-the-art premises, we can all be proud of.

The Enable Network has expanded over the past 13 years, and we now have other talented people in the chair, who continue to raise awareness and promote a number of valuable causes. Other networks have sprung up and are flourishing. My role now, in this space, is to work as an Accessibility Champion to all Colleague Networks, within the Bank.

BRAVER is our Allyship framework. What does BRAVER mean to you.

BRAVER is all about working together for the benefit of all, recognising other’s abilities, being ready to give help and receive help, collectively believing that together, we are greater than if we are working on our own. I participated in the original launch of BRAVER, a couple of years ago and am glad to see it being revised and rebooted at the current time. 

Outside work, I am a licenced minister, for my church organisation. I do a lot of online and face-to-face teaching, in our Bible College and I often preach in church. I am also a singer and musician, with my main instrument being guitar. My favourite music is Christian Worship and Gospel.  I'm also a granddad and, as often as my wife and I can make it, we try to meet up with our lovely granddaughters, either over here or in Romania. As I get nearer to retirement, I look forward to be doing a lot more of that!

In summary, I have had- and still have- a very full life, both in work and out of work. Medically speaking, there is nothing that can be done to restore my sight, however, I’m not going to lie down and live a restricted, defeated existence. Have things been difficult at times? Of course they have, but I choose to see a glass half full, rather than half empty.  Life is what you make it and, if you choose to step out, try some things that you don’t know will work out or not and take the opportunities that are presented to you, you have much more prospect of being successful and feeling fulfilled.