Diplomat 'denied foreign post due to her deafness'

Diplomat 'denied foreign post due to her deafness'

By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter

Tuesday, 14 September 2010

Jane Cordell spent four years as first secretary at the embassy in Warsaw

A foreign office high-flier appointed as Britain's deputy ambassador to
Kazakhstan has had her posting revoked after officials ruled that her
deafness makes it too expensive to send her abroad. Jane Cordell, who was
lauded for her work championing disability rights during a previous
diplomatic role in Poland, is suing the Foreign Office for discrimination
after being told that the additional cost of providing her with trained "lip
speakers" to enable her to work can no longer be justified from the public
purse.

In her case, which is being supported by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission, she argues that accommodating her disability is being used to
restrict her career despite the fact that the Foreign Office routinely pays
out large sums for the private education of the children of staff for up to
11 years who would otherwise be unable to take up their posts.

Mrs Cordell, 44, who spent four years as first secretary at the embassy in
Warsaw, returning to London in January, was chosen to become deputy head of
mission in the Kazakh capital, Astana, with the strong support of the
ambassador. But the offer was rescinded because it would cost an additional
£300,000 to fund a rota of lip speakers ­ specialist interpreters who help
to relay conversations to a deaf person using sign language ­ during her
posting. Mrs Cordell argues that the figure is unrealistic and her needs
could be met for £176,000 per year ­ a slight increase on what the Foreign
Office was willing to pay while she was stationed in Warsaw.

An employment tribunal judge will rule later this autumn on the case, which
campaigners say has implications for the ability of people with a disability
to rise to the highest echelons of Britain's diplomatic corps and other
professions. Unless the court rules in her favour, Mrs Cordell, who remains
employed by the Foreign Office, argues that the number of foreign posts
available to her will be vastly reduced. Lawyers for the Cambridge-educated
diplomat said that the Foreign Office is "effectively imposing a glass
ceiling on the career prospects of the disabled".

Mrs Cordell lost her hearing over several years as a young adult, and joined
the Foreign Office in 2001 after a previous career teaching English as a
foreign language and working for Cambridge University Press. She rose
rapidly through the ranks, earning praise from her managers for her
"consistently strong performance".

She said: "I am bringing this case because sadly it is the only available
way to get clarity on my future FCO career. A diplomat needs overseas
experience; I would expect to be able to get this. I am doing this for
myself and other staff at the Foreign Office whose disabilities require
significant support. We need answers to the question 'Can we expect to have
normal diplomatic careers, or not?' "

While in Warsaw as head of the embassy's political section she led a number
of initiatives on disability rights in Poland, earning a nomination for a
Presidential Order of Merit medal. By March last year, her superiors in
London decided that she would soon make "the transition to senior
management".

The decision to withdraw her Kazakhstan job offer was based on legislation
which obliges employers to make "reasonable adjustments", such as the
funding of specialist equipment or assistance, to allow disabled staff to
carry out their work.

The Foreign Office claims that the amount required for Mrs Cordell, which
would include the living and travel costs of security-cleared lip speakers
shuttling between Kazakhstan and Britain on a rota, considerably exceeds the
definition of "reasonable". The department, which has 228 staff registered
as disabled with 52 working abroad, imposes a £10,000 ceiling on help for
disabled employees and only funds extra assistance on a case-by-case basis.

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