When Pauline Alexander applied for temping work to Sales Link Services - a north London recruitment agency with a range of housing and construction industry clients - in 2006, little did she anticipate the trouble that would come of it. Although Alexander is deaf, that had not prevented her from formerly being director of a property company and, having applied to the agency in her present occupational guise as a diversity trainer, she felt she was well qualified to work in the field. But Sales Link Services had other ideas.

"I was asked to phone in, which I did using TypeTalk," says Alexander. "The person I spoke to said he thought my hearing loss would be an impediment to doing the job. He asked me to send a CV, but contacted me the following week, saying that although they did not doubt my capabilities, they would not invite me for interview or registration because of my hearing loss."

When Alexander pointed out that this was discriminatory, the agency backtracked, inviting her for interview.

An employment tribunal recently ruled that Sales Link Services discriminated against her by refusing to interview her because of her deafness - the first disability discrimination case brought against a recruitment agency, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Alexander's claim was supported by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

Alexander says she has found the whole experience harrowing and exhausting, feeling that "the system doesn't support disabled people", after her initial experience with Sales Link Services through to wrestling with the agency industry body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the tribunal system itself.

"I feel shocked to have been treated in this way," she says. "More than 10 years on from the Disability Discrimination Act becoming law, I really would have hoped employers would behave better than this. And of course I'm a diversity trainer - what hope is there for other disabled people who don't know their way around the law?"

She adds: "I'd also like to see an overhaul of the tribunal system to make it more 'disability friendly', including deaf and disability awareness training for all tribunal staff, especially those on tribunal panels". She has written to the tribunal service, asking them to investigate her experiences.

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