Louise and Matt redefine ability

Louise McMillan:
It's always the forward-thinking of Ashurst and they've never made me feel throughout the whole time I've been in the wheelchair, the whole time of all this change that I went through, not once did they make me feel disabled. They've always made me feel able and supportive in order to get me what I need to do to be Louise.

Host:
Hello and welcome to Ashurst Business Agenda. You are listening to another special episode in our Outpacing Change miniseries where we meet visionaries who are changing the world around them. On the 3rd of December every year we recognize the International Day of people with disability. This annual day provides an overarching focus on how society can strive for inclusivity through the removal of physical, technological, and attitudinal barriers for people with disability.

The day also sits within the UK's Disability History Month, this conversation featuring Matthew Walker and Louise McMillan highlights just how far we've come when it comes to human-centered, inclusive and accessible design for people with disabilities from both a workplace innovation and technology lens. Matt's a co-founder of Adapt-ABILITY, a company working to provide mobility solutions for disabled people. He has a T-10 spinal injury, which left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down, giving him an intuitive understanding of what other people with limited mobility look for in their mobility solutions. Louise is a systems analyst at Ashurst who works out the Glasgow office. She underwent a traumatic health incident that left her paralyzed within months of starting at Ashurst. Both have honest and raw stories to share with you, so let's jump right in and hear the conversation. Matt and Louise, welcome to the podcast.

Louise McMillan:
Great to be here. Thank you very much. Looking forward to this one.

Matthew Walker:
Cheers. No, thank you very much. Great to be here.

Host:
Matt, coming to you first, it would be terrific to hear about your background and I guess the story and events leading up to you requiring a wheelchair.

Matthew Walker:
Well, you're going to love this. So I used to be a gardener. That is my passion. I used to work on golf courses and I started my own business up and the whole point of the business was to bring golf course quality to people's houses. At 2018, it was a beautiful, beautiful, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. I was up a ladder and I was probably only about, I'd say 18 inches from the ground and I'd finished the job, and as I was coming down from the ladder, I suddenly started getting electrocuted. Now, we're not too sure what happened, how I got electrocuted, but I was trying to free myself from the ladder after a prolonged period of time. I'd love to say it, maybe a few minutes, but in reality it was probably only 10, 15 seconds. And as I fell from the ladder, I was very rigid and I literally landed on my back and snapped it.

So I snapped my spinal cord at the T9-T10 area, and I managed to nearly break every vertebrae in my back and literally became paralyzed in an instant. Obviously, the usual, got rushed to hospital. Actually, it took me about an hour and a half to go to hospital because I was lying there on the ground for a while hoping that it was just shock and that my legs would return. They didn't, so called an ambulance, did rehab, left rehab carried on with the business, and here I am today. So that is my story. Not many people have been electrocuted for no apparent reason. I'm sure if I looked into it, there would probably be a reason, but I'd rather not know.

Host:
Thanks for sharing, Matt. Now, thinking about that event, how much did it shape the creation, the idea for Adapt Ability?

Matthew Walker:
So because I was a gardener, I needed a form of transport that was to give me independence, freedom. But the most important thing for me at that time was I was going onto people's lawns and their properties in my manual wheelchair, and I could see the damage I was causing to their lawns just from the wheelchair with the little rigid lines in the lawns and the wheels. And I needed something that had a lighter footprint. It took me months and months of looking and searching on the internet, and I came across the Omeo, which at the point of where I was searching, it was a prototype and I bought into it. I had it flown over and I fell in love with it. And in time, this is going to also sound a little bit strange, the business took off and the love for the job left me because all I was doing was watching other people do the work I loved.

So yes, I could mow lawns. Yes, I could fertilize lawns and seed and do jobs, but not to the professional level that I had that I wanted to achieve. And I became a finger pointer. So I remember it was a Thursday night, I was in my standing frame at home and I decided to give up the business and I handed it to the guys who worked with me. So they took it over. And on the Monday, I had become the distributor for Adapt-ABILITY, and it just took off from there then really. And the thing I love about this job now is I'm far more involved. I'm not the finger pointer anymore. I'm the guy who gets stuck in, which is, that's what I like. I like to get stuck in. I don't like to watch things from afar.

Host:
Look, I encourage our listeners at this point to pause the podcast or you may not even need to pause the podcast. Go and visit Adapt-ABILITY, Adapt-ABILITY.co.uk, and just have a look at the Omeo because words can't describe or do it justice and there's no real comparison. I mean, Matt, the only thing I can compare it to when I first saw it is the Segway, but you've just got to go and check it out and go and see it for yourself, and you'll be just amazed at what it can do. Tell us in your words how the Omeo has changed your life.

Matthew Walker:
Do you know what? The Omeo is a machine like no other. It was created by two guys in New Zealand, and it is the only mobility device I can describe that doesn't look like it's a disabled vehicle. And the thing I liken it to is probably Dr. Xavier of the X-Men, except it's a lot more nimble, it's a lot quicker and it's a lot more intuitive and it's a lot cooler. So it's like that chair, but better. So for me and many users in the UK, what happens is is that eventually you forget you're on the Omeo and it becomes your legs. And I don't feel disabled in the Omeo either. If anything, it screams ability. So you want to do things. So you look at certain terrains and it actually, it's almost enticing you to take it on. So instead of looking at something and thinking, oh, I can't do this or I can't do that, the thought process is completely different.

The thought process is actually I'm going to try this and I probably can do it. And when you do do it, the machine eggs you on to do more and more. So I do laugh whenever we go on trips with work or if we're off to see clients or customers, we go into areas where other mobility devices don't want to go. So I'm really looking forward to the snow. I already have it planned, we're going to have a Try Me day in Scotland. I'm hoping there's going to be snow, and we're going to hit the slopes in the Omeo and we're going to have a great time and we're going to take on terrains where no other mobility device has ever been before, and it's going to be fun.

Host:
No doubt. You'll get some great video of which you'll no doubt share on your social channels. So check out that. Louise, turning to you now, could you share your story of the events surrounding the use of your wheelchair?

Louise McMillan:
So mine happened, I wasn't electrocuted thankfully, so sorry about that, Matt. But no, I wasn't electrocuted. However, it did feel like I'd been shot. So I'd gone to bed on the Sunday night with a little bit of a niggly back pain, not really thinking much of it, just thought I'll be fine in the morning. So got up for work, went to sit up in bed, and it honestly felt like I'd been shot in the back of my leg, me being so committed to my job, I'd only been there 11 months by that point. Really loved my job, loved the company. I was like, I've got to get to work. So get to the train station and I'm dragging my leg. And I remember going through Central Station and literally dragging my leg, and couldn't understand what was going on, just thought it must be just a bit of back pain. Surely it'll go.

And I remember sitting at my desk in tears and my boss was like, "Louise, you need to go to hospital." So goes into hospital on the Monday night, and I went into the Center of Excellence Hospital, the University of Glasgow. I was presenting, the pain was getting worse. Things had then started to happen. So I had no sensation in my leg at all, and I started to lose control of different functions within the lower half of my body. So I saw an orthopedic surgeon and they were like, "Oh, it's just sciatica." So I said, "Are you sure?" And I was in tears. I was asking for pain relief, and they just said, "No, you're fine." So I said, "Look, what do I do now?" So they're like, "We need a scan of your back just to make sure you've not done any damage."

However, because of my weight, they said they didn't have an MRI scanner big enough for me. Now this is the University of Glasgow, Center of Excellence, Center of Imaging, and they didn't have a scanner big enough. And then they just sent me home. By the next day, I was again dragging myself through Central Station. So I called the MRI clinic and I said, "Look, there must be something." So I managed to get a cancellation on the Wednesday, went in, had an MRI scan, and the lady that did the scan said to me, "When are you seeing your surgeon again?" So I said, "Well, I'm not seeing a surgeon. I just went to A&E." She was like, "Well, we'll probably want to see you." But then sent me home. By Friday, things were pretty bad. I didn't control my bladder, my bowel, my pain was through the roof.

So I rang my GP and I said, "Look, something needs to happen." By about six o'clock, he rang me back and he was like, "Louise, where are you?" So I said, "I'm just at home." In tears, "I'm at home." He says, "No rush. When you can, head over to the hospital. We just want to see you." Didn't explain anything. Get to the hospital. Same hospital I was in the other day and I was greeted by three neurosurgeons. When they looked at my scan at L5-S1, what happened is there's a disc at L5-S1 that moves from left to right. If it moves to the left or right, it can cause sciatic pain, which as anybody that's had it, is horrendous. However, if it goes backwards, it crushes your spine and it gets lodged into place and it won't move itself. And it's what's called cauda equina.

Now there's red flags that you need to look out for when you've got cauda equina. You've got to look out for loss of bowel, loss of bladder, no sensation in your leg and paralysis on your lower half and numbness in the saddle area. And I had all them red flags on the Monday. And the neurosurgeon sat me down and he just said, "I'm sorry, Louise. Time's up. You have 24 hours in which to get the disc relief from the pressure in your spine." I was left four days and he said, "Look, I'll get rid of the pain, but the chances are you've got permanent paralysis." And that was it.

Host:
I just want to thank you both for sharing those stories with us. Obviously Louise, there was a series of events that happened after the fact, but when you finally did return to work at Ashurst back in 2018, what was that like?

Louise McMillan:
I always say if it wasn't for Ashurst, I'm not sure where I would be. I've worked for companies, so I'm 44 now and I've worked for companies since I was 16 years old, always for call centers, professional organizations. And I look back through all the organizations that I've worked for and I can categorically say I'd only been at Ashurst 11 months, and the support they gave me was nothing I'd ever felt before. Whenever you join a company the first week you're there, everyone always says, oh, it's like a family. And I never really thought about it. Everyone says it. And then Ashurst were the family that I never knew I needed. For example, when I was in hospital for three months, my family had to come and visit me every day, my own personal family. They wouldn't let me not have a visitor. And every Thursday at one o'clock, Ashurst would send a taxi of people up to the hospital to just sit with me, to just talk to me.

It helped my personal family, but it just let you feel part of something bigger than yourself and genuinely don't know where I'd be. During that period of time where I was on long-term sick, I never once worried about my job. They was constantly contacting me but not chasing me for work, just contacting me. I had a manager sit with me in my house before Teams doing my end of year review. I had people just checking in and that is so powerful. And then when I decided to go back to work, my job was exactly the same as what it was when I left. And then since then I've been given more and more opportunities to progress in my career. I'm now honestly coming for an analyst role that I never thought I'd dream of.

Matthew Walker:
Louise, how do you think your mental state would've been had Ashurst not given you that sense of security when you were having your rehab and going through such a bad time? I only say this because I have seen so many people go into rehab and the work is never really addressed. There are so many people give up on work and their opportunities in life are gone. I mean, this is the one thing that frustrates me. The workplace and having a purpose and having that sense of, like you said, family, society, interaction and feeling needed, it's so important to everybody, but so many people, one of the first things they do is, I'll stop work. And I just think, no, you shouldn't have done that.

Louise McMillan:
When I was in rehab, the part of the rehab team was, you had your physiotherapist, you had your occupational therapist, you had doctors on call, you had doctors that you saw daily. You had to go in for two hour sessions every day. You had to have lunch with everybody. But one of them was a psychologist to get you through that process of grief maybe, because you're losing something you had before. But never once did she say, are you going to continue working or anything like that. It was how are you going to get out of bed in the morning? And my husband was exceptional. My husband allowed me to grieve or allowed me to wallow for a period of time, but then at some point he just said, "Right, enough's enough. What are you going to do?" And because work was there and work was so supportive, it never crossed my mind not to work. Not once.

Host:
Louise, how does it feel to work for Ashurst that have really adopted that human-centered approach to, well, to everything really?

Louise McMillan:
It's always the forward-thinking of Ashurst and they've never made me feel throughout the whole time of being in the wheelchair, the whole time of all this change that I went through, not once did they make me feel disabled. They've always made me feel able and supportive in order to get me what I need to do to be Louise. I've tried to not lose myself during that period of time. I've got an NHS chair, which isn't very pretty. It's not a very designer thing. However, I love my wheelchair. Without my wheelchair, I can't leave the house, I can't go anywhere. And the wheelchair becomes part of you. And I don't regret being in a wheelchair because I'm sad it happened, however, the wheelchair is perfect for me because it allows me to get out of my house, and not... I know disabled people that don't leave the house and I feel sad for them and I'd encourage anybody to just not give up. Life is hard. It's hard for everybody. Life isn't something that you give up. It's just different.

Matthew Walker:
But I suppose though in your situation though, Ashurst, and I don't know how they've done it, but they've nailed it, both mentally and physically though as well.

Louise McMillan:
A hundred percent.

Matthew Walker:
I mean, I know a lot of people who don't leave the house, and they don't leave the house because society, it hasn't been geared up for them. I've had it myself. I leave the house in my manual wheelchair. All I can think about is my situation. It is compounded on me that I am disabled at every single push because there may not be a dropped curb or there's overhanging grass or debris on the pathways and I can't get there. So I understand why people don't leave the house.

But it does seem though that the company that you work for, they've taken that away from you as well. It's like, let's not make Louise feel that she's disabled. Not that anybody should anyway. But it's almost like they've ticked the invisible boxes somehow, because you can put a ramp up for somebody and you can do X, Y and Z. But to take away the mental strain of feeling disabled, well, it's brilliant. It's brilliant and it's a shame we're even talking about it because everybody should have that freedom of mentally not feeling disabled and just cracking on in life and fulfilling their potential. But sadly it's not the case. But it does sound like they've nailed it.

Louise McMillan:
They have. They have. I mean, I've got a Christmas party to go to in December, and my colleagues could have picked, I mean we're in Glasgow, so there's hundreds of places they could have gone. And what they did was they picked three places. They went to visit all three places that making sure there was the dropped entrance, making sure that it was small enough nearby that I could get around. They visited everyone, they checked out the toilet, they checked out the venue, they checked out the bar, and they've put all these things in place before I even got invited. I don't now need to say to my team, is it accessible? It's the first thing people think of when they look to book an event, they check first if it's accessible for me, and then they'll go to the team and say, we've picked this place.
And I always look and I'm like, "How have you picked that place?" But they spend so much time making sure that I'm included before I need to ask. And that's always been the situation at Ashurst. But I think people do need a purpose. You need a purpose in life, whether that's your family life, whether that's your working life. My purpose is my family first and my work second. Ashurst are the family that never knew I had until I needed them. And they are a family.

Matthew Walker:
Well, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's purpose. We're all different people. We're all different at the end day. I love work. I need to work, but I've also got to love the work as well. So I've always been really fortunate that I've always loved my jobs and unfortunately in my previous job when I became the finger pointer and I couldn't get stuck in like I used to, it was like, right time to change. And I love the job I do now. But you're right. You need a purpose. Whether that's work, family, hobby, a sport, something, a community, you need something. There has to be a reason to get up to go and do something, to enjoy it as well.

Host:
Thank you both once again for graciously sharing those stories with us. We're now at a point in the episode where we're going to go through our quickfire questions. I'll ask Matt to answer first and then Louise can answer second. How would your colleagues describe you in three words?

Matthew Walker:
I'd have to say enthusiastic, passionate, and stubborn.

Host:
Louise?

Louise McMillan:
I did ask this question actually. So I did ask. One of them was a superhero, but I'm not too sure I can say that one. So most people said I was kind, creative, and attentive.

Host:
We'll go with superhero. You said it. I'm going to include that. I'm including that now. You said it. Louise, if you could have a coffee meeting with any leader in the world past or present, who would it be?

Louise McMillan:
Has to be Stephen Hawking, surely. Do you know him?

Host:
Yeah, great answer. Matt.

Matthew Walker:
It would always be, unfortunately, the current prime minister. And I say unfortunately because it might be a boring answer, but I would love to have a one-to-one conversation about disabilities in the workplace and how we can get people out there back in the workplace.

Louise McMillan:
Such a good answer. I might change mine now. Very good answer.

Host:
Sticking with you, Matt, what's the biggest myth or misconception about your industry?

Matthew Walker:
Oh, okay. Pricing. Unfortunately, we are not a blue chip company where we're in mass production like the Sonys, the Samsungs and everything else. So a lot of the time we do get accused of disability tax. That is not the case. We try and keep everything as low as possible and I hope maybe there might be a government subsidy one day, which could help out people with disabilities.

Host:
Louise?

Louise McMillan:
I think for me, the biggest myth is that because I'm an analyst, people always say, "It must be boring for you on Excel all day." But it's really not. People say, "I couldn't do your job. That sounds so boring." And it is a massive misconception because it's great. It allows you flexibility. We have a situation where people don't want to do it because it's not creative, but actually it's one of the most creative roles you can be in.

Host:
So that leads into the next question. So when it comes to being creative, are you a morning or an evening person?

Louise McMillan:
Afternoon.

Host:
Oh. Split the difference.

Louise McMillan:
Split the difference, split the difference. Possibly, possibly, my biggest ideas come in an evening when I'm struggling with say something on a project, I seem to rest at night and it allows that creativity to flow. And in the morning I've come up with a formula or I've come up with an idea that I can then progress with. So it tends to be that, really.

Matthew Walker:
I'm definitely an evening person. Definitely. My partner is a morning person. So of course in the morning time I'm getting all her ideas and I'm being bamboozled with everything. And then I'm like, "I need to have a coffee." But then in the evening time, I'll have my ideas and I'll throw them back at her. And at that point she's like, "No, Matt. Shut up. Stop talking about work." But yeah, definitely an evening person.

Host:
Excellent. And finally, Matt, can you name a book or a podcast or both that you would recommend for business leaders?

Matthew Walker:
Okay, so I am severely dyslexic, so I do not read. I love business, I love maths. And I haven't read a business book probably since I left school, unfortunately. But one thing I do do, I'm always thinking about work and the one thing I will listen to religiously every week is it's a podcast and it's called The Archers. Okay. So it's about a farming community. It's about day-to-day life. So if I ever want to switch off, that's what I listen to. So I'm really sorry. I cannot recommend a book because I don't read. I just listen to audiobooks, spy novels, something to take me away from work as opposed to thinking about work.

Host:
Rest, and relaxation. Absolutely. Louise?

Louise McMillan:
I'm going to say similar, I don't really listen to a lot of podcasts and read a lot of business leaders' books. However, I have been listening to Ashurst podcast. This is not a plug, but because I was obviously going to be on a podcast, I listened to the podcast that you've created for Ashurst and actually they're really good, so I would say Ashurst.

Host:
I love a good plug. Well done. Thank you both again for this wonderful conversation. But we want to get practical. We want people to take away some key insights. So I'll go to you first, Matt. Say you've got that opportunity to meet with the PM, what's one piece of advice you'd give them or key takeaway for them to consider? What would that be? What would that look like?

Matthew Walker:
Okay, so I'd probably go down the lines of practice what you can preach, get stuck in. Don't ask anybody to do anything that you wouldn't do yourself. If I had the opportunity to even talk to the Prime Minister, I would love to ask how many people with disabilities are working within the organization to help people with disabilities? That's the biggest frustration I have. So when we do talk to government bodies about disability, unfortunately it does come from an able-bodied person, and I would love to see persons of disabilities within the government because I have people with disabilities work within the company and the knowledge and the background that they have to engage and understand the customer and to engage and understand other people, it's phenomenal. And that's my biggest frustration. I would probably sit down, have a chat and ask, can I have the figures? How many people with disabilities work within your organization? And just take it from there then really.

Host:
Louise, what would be your one piece of advice for leaders?

Louise McMillan:
Get to know your people. I was very fortunate with my team leader that rather than shy away from, he embraced it and he constantly asked, "What can we do? How can I support you?" Went away, tried to figure out what he could do, what things were available. When we were looking at the chair, he spent a long time looking at the chairs to make sure it was the right chair. So I would just encourage people to ask questions. Don't shy away. Know your people and that's the best way you are going to be able to move forward with anybody in your team, not just who have the disability.

Host:
That's lovely, and that's a lovely way to finish our podcast. Louise and Matt, it's been a pleasure to get to know you both, and thank you very much for sharing your stories with us today.

Matthew Walker:
Cheers. Well thank you for having us on.

Louise McMillan:
Thank you very much.

Host:
Thank you for listening. This episode's been part of our special Outpacing Change miniseries where we speak with innovators and disruptors who are changing the world around them. For more details on Matt's business, check out myadaptability.co.uk. And to make sure you don't miss any future episodes, subscribe to Business Agenda on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, feel free to leave us a rating and/or a review. Until next time, thanks again for listening and goodbye for now.