Support at the workplace

It is against the law to discriminate against anyone on the grounds of any ‘protected characteristic’ such as age, gender, sexuality, religion, disability, race, and so on.

‘Facial disfigurement’ became classed as a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995 and continues to be seen as such under the Equalities Act of 2010, and so to discriminate against someone based on a disfigurement would be against the law.

Being born with a cleft may not be something you see as a disability or even a disfigurement (this is not a term CLAPA generally uses, but other charities like Changing Faces use it, partially because of its legally protected meaning), but if you believe someone is discriminating against you on the grounds of how your cleft makes you look, they may be breaking the law.

Each employer should have their own bullying and harassment policy which should be freely available. If not, ask your HR department.

In the Equality Act 2010, harassment is defined as “unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating and intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual.”

If you feel like this is happening to you, follow your employer’s bullying and harassment policy, or find help and advice on the following websites:

Changing Faces

NHS Choices

Citizen’s Advice Bureau

Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)

Bullying and harassment is behaviour which makes someone feel intimidated, excluded or offended.

Harassment is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.

Bullying can include arguments and rudeness, but it can also be more subtle.

Some adults born with a cleft experience bullying, harassment, or discrimination in the workplace. Sometimes this may be related to their cleft or could be related
to other things. This is known as workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying rarely involves overt behaviours such as physical aggression; it is usually more subtle.

This can include:

• Spreading malicious rumours
• Being treated unfairly
• Being regularly picked on or undermined
• Being denied training or promotion opportunities
• Being excluded
• Not being credited for your contribution
• Being overloaded with work
• Being expected to work extra hours without pay

Workplace bullying can happen face to face, by letter, email, text messages or phone calls. You may find yourself targeted by bullying for any number of reasons, which may include your appearance or speech.

Bullying can make you feel miserable and can sometimes lead to significant mental health issues.

It can make you not want to go to work, find it hard to motivate yourself, and cause you to lose confidence in yourself and your abilities. This can lead to feeling isolated, withdrawn, angry, upset or unwell.

Don’t be ashamed to tell people what’s going on.

Bullying is serious, and you may need help from other people to solve it. By sharing your experiences you may discover other people are experiencing it too.

Recognise that bullying does not happen because you deserve it. It reflects only the bully’s own behaviour and is often an attempt to intimidate, undermine and/or
control you.

Don’t be tempted to explain your behaviour – rather, ask them to explain theirs (if you feel comfortable to do so).

Keep a diary of the bullying. This may be useful if you decide to take action later.

If you’re experiencing bullying in the workplace, you should speak to someone who can help. This may be an employee
representative, such as a trade union official, someone in your Human Resources (HR) department, or your manager or supervisor (unless they are
the one who is bullying you).

More information and advice is available at gov.uk.

You may also ask for a referral to the Cleft Clinical Psychology team to talk through the bullying and to come up with strategies to manage it. Learn more about getting a referral to the Cleft Team and about Clinical Psychology.

If you’ve experienced bullying in the past, this may cause distress in adulthood. For example, worrying that new people you
meet will treat or judge you badly too (and possibly feeling that you deserve this).

If you wish to talk to someone about the bullying you experienced when younger, and the impact it may be having on confidence or relationships in adulthood, request a referral to the Cleft Team and ask to speak with a member of the Clinical
Psychology Team.