MAD World speaker Hasan Reza, Head of EDI at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, has a fascinating, unique insight into many aspects of wellbeing due to his personal experiences: he had childhood cancer, and so understands the challenges of living and working with cancer, and was formerly Chair of cancer charity Mission Remission. As well as this, he is dealing daily with the physical, disabling effects of his treatment, which means he walks with a stick.
But he also knows what it’s like to live with the invisible disabilities like pain; and, as a practicing Shia Muslim (this branch of Islam makes up about 20% of all Muslims in the world), who regularly goes on pilgrimages to places like Iraq and Mecca, and supports organisations that organise these visits, he lives what it’s like to be a minority at work, with beliefs and behaviours different from the ‘norm’.
This is all in addition to his wealth of professional DEI experience gained at various NHS Trusts, as well as in Kent. It’s no surprise that DEI is a topic close to his heart, as you’ll see from this wide-ranging conversation we had with him following his appearance at MAD World, where he spoke on a panel about driving meaningful DEI change.
What did you most get out of MAD World last month?
It’s always fantastic, especially in the DEI sphere, to meet and talk to other people who are living a similar world to you.
DEI professionals offer a lot of themselves emotionally, and vulnerably, to the people that they’re supporting and we don’t do enough of that self-reflection and wellbeing piece for ourselves.
But what set the Summit apart for me was that it was a lot more solution-driven than I’m used to, which was fantastic. It’s great to hear about shared issues and common woes but what was awesome was to hear about things people had tried and, not just from the panel, but the audiences too.
There were a lot of really positive reflections throughout the day’s conversations. I ended up connecting with at least a dozen people that I’ve then followed up with, and put them in touch with people at my organisation or vice versa.
Every conference promises this, but it was genuinely extremely positive and proactive.
What about your session. What was your main takeaway?
My main take-home point for the audience was that there is a balance that needs to be struck between the focus on the data, and remembering that there are actual human beings on the other end of the data points.
I think we need to avoid becoming so focused on that data, and getting the latest data point, that we forget that the purpose of these programmes, reports and all these metrics is to improve people’s lives.
Having experienced cancer, and currently in remission, you have a unique perspective on how the workplace needs to evolve to better support the needs of people living with cancer. What are your thoughts on this?
I had childhood cancer, in my leg, diagnosed at the age of six. So I lost a lot of mobility and I have a lot of limitations on things I can do like play sport or walking for leisure. And there’s a lot of other things that I either medically, or physically, can’t do.
Workplaces need to understand that there are many children going through cancer treatment who are, one day, going to become employees. But I think there’s this presumption still amongst workplaces that ‘cancer equals old age’, which is not the reality.
Cancer is part of my identity. I discuss it when I go for job interviews. On boarding and legal requirements aside (I don’t legally have to discuss my health and I can’t be asked about it, I share about it because it’s innately who I am), it’s something I feel very passionate about.
But there are still colleagues who are really surprised about the fact that occasionally I need time off to go to hospital appointments, which are a two hour drive away.
‘Why can’t you just use the local NHS Trust?’ I’ve been asked.
My cancer check ups aren’t like popping into your local hospital, they’re specialist. I don’t think workplaces quite understand that if you have cancer in early life, it’s probably going to affect you in later life.
Can you explain how cancer now affects you?
I’ve been in remission for about 22 years now but there are a lot of things that I still deal with on a day-to-day basis. There are a plethora of systemic issues that I face with my body that my employer has been fantastic at supporting me with.
For instance, I have chronic pain because of the fact that I had over a dozen different operations on, or related to, my leg.
It’s life after cancer, after the diagnosis, after the treatment, that employers have to think about. It’s this ‘life after’ that is often forgotten about.
Why do you think this is?
Well, what you tend to see now is this idea of ‘ringing the bell’ when your cancer treatment has finished as if to say ‘that’s it! You’re done now!’
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to celebrate the end of treatment and I’d have loved to ring the bell when I was a little boy. But you may be done with chemotherapy or radiotherapy or active treatment, but the rest of your life is going to be spent continuing to receive some kind of treatment, even if it’s just pain management, or follow ups.
But I think the idea of ‘you’re done!’ has become more common because people see the social media element and that the bell has been rung, so that’s it. It’s not. And workplaces need to understand that.
It’s Disability History Awareness Month. What are your thoughts about the treatment of disabled people at work?
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is a very positive place to work as someone with a disability. Where I started my career pre-NHS, it wasn’t.
I think something that indicates where we are at with disability is comparisons. Because I had cancer in my leg I required ongoing treatment. There was a point I needed a year out of work to have my entire metal implant replaced and redeveloped because everything from my hip to my knee is metal.
When I told my then-manager about needing time off, they immediately compared my experience to theirs with their knee, that only required some minor input and six weeks of leave.
If my issue was related to gender, ethnicity or any other protected characteristics, I don’t think people would dare make that comparison. But for some reason, when it comes to disability we lose all inhibitions and think we can make comparisons or comments that are unacceptable, simply because we had a vaguely similar experience.
Of course it might be people wanting to empathise, but it ends up being about not understanding or trivialising.
How do we combat this?
Conversations. That’s why I try and share my story as much as possible. People need to hear the impact of their words and actions.
As you said at the beginning, working in DEI can take a lot out of you, especially when you are sharing your personal story a lot, as you do, to help others. How positive do you feel about DEI and where we are with it in the UK?
I do feel positive. I’ve grown up with a disability so I’ve experienced the lived side. When I was growing up, there wasn’t a space for the conversation about DEI to even take place.
There is now, which is good. And there’s more interest at grassroots level recognising that inclusivity and belonging are fundamental to corporate strategies.
So, overall, in my 30 years of life, I think we have definitely moved forward, especially in the last five years, which is fantastic.
We just need to keep checking ourselves and ensure we’re not celebrating our success too early, but also that we are celebrating achievements made along the way. That’s something I don’t think DEI does well and something I work hard on in our Trust.
Wherever we’ve achieved something, we try and make sure that our people know what we’ve done, however big or small, because you need to tell the good news story.
(Please note, we will be quoting Reza in a forthcoming feature on spirituality in the workplace for his thoughts on this)
