Joanne Austin, Global Inclusion Manager for HSBC and one of our 2024 judges tells us more about her background, what inspires her, and why she chose to be part of the Disability Power 100 awards…
“I joined HSBC about seven years ago working in compliance assurance, after almost three decades at NatWest. I have always had a personal interest in disability and inclusion, having epilepsy myself and close family members with disabilities, and so I began running the Ability Employee Resource Group, which has led me to work in the role I do now. My global inclusion role helps to implement initiatives to support and help build disability confidence globally for the HSBC group.”
Overcoming obstacles
Jo understands first hand the obstacles that a person with a disability or health condition often comes up against, due to inaccessibility.
“During the pandemic, I joined a Zoom call where someone shared their screen which had moving patterns. With my epilepsy this caused me to become quite poorly, and I was then not safe to use my computer. I reached out to the Digital Accessibility Team at HSBC who raised this issue with Zoom and worked with them to develop epilepsy safeguarding controls. These controls are now implemented into every Zoom call and are available as an option for anyone worldwide to use.”
Although the experience caused Jo to become unwell, she thinks of it as having a positive outcome that now everyone with epilepsy can safely use Zoom.
Memorable achievements
Throughout all of Jo’s work, it is clear she gets involved in projects for no other reason than that she has a genuine interest in supporting others to thrive, especially those who may not haven’ been given the opportunities to do so.
“I am especially proud of a project I worked on, which was to bring 5 people who were furthest away from employment due to their disability, into working at the bank. These individuals have now been employed for 2 years and are making a huge impact on the bank. I supported this project by sharing my own experience of trying to help find work for my son who has autism.”
Being a judge for the DP100 aligns with everything Jo believes in, to move towards a more inclusive future.
“It’s about not accepting that you should be limited just because you have a disability. I enjoy that as a judge I have a much wider view of all the amazing work that goes on in this space, than I would have done.”
Jo also spoke about diversity within the awards and the importance of making sure that it is continuously celebrated and improved upon.
“We are always working towards celebrating diversity within the awards, and we do get nominations from all different backgrounds and communities which is great to see. Diversity can always be improved on and the DP100 is working towards diversifying next year’s awards even more.”
From her wealth of experience, both from her work within inclusion and her role as one of the judges, Jo has some great advice to build upon:
“Don’t be afraid to speak up – challenging things in the right way. In these situations, think about what are you asking for, how are you asking for it, and what the impact of this. Have the bravery to do things where you can make the biggest difference and biggest impact. DP100 is not just a list, it is building a community to help implement change and make a difference.”