Holly Girven Gets Job After Interview Cancelled Over Wheelchair Access
September 10, 2020
A woman who said a job interview was cancelled because she uses a wheelchair has now got the job.
Holly Girven, from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, applied to be a paralegal for BT in Sheffield but claimed the interview was pulled when she asked about wheelchair access.
Ms Girven, 23, said she was glad to have been given the same chances as other people.
BT has said it was “conducting a full investigation”.
Ms Girven has been in a wheelchair all her life and applied for the paralegal job through a specialist legal recruitment agency as a first step towards a career as a barrister.
She said she “just wanted a level playing field” adding it was the first time in her life she had come up against
something like that from such a big company.
“I don’t apply for certain jobs like waitressing because I know I couldn’t do it,” Ms Girven said.
When Ms Girven initially applied online she said there was no option to state she needed a wheelchair.
‘Unacceptable’
But at the next stage of application she said the interview was suddenly cancelled “because I was told there was no wheelchair access at that office”.
She has since been interviewed and is due to start the job soon, but has not yet signed a contract because BT is considering options for her to work from home or from an office with better access.
Ms Girven said she was “so pleased”.
“Hopefully it’ll stop other employers from doing that same thing,” she said. “It’s unacceptable.”
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