Phillip Ingham hasn’t worked in five years.

He’s filled out hundreds of applications but things often tank at the interview stage.

The 45-year-old suspects it’s not a problem with his credentials or how he presents himself, it’s his cerebral palsy.

He’s had to grapple with the poor co-ordination, stiff or weak muscles, and tremors that come with the neurological condition, since the age of three.

“One potential employer told me managers would be offended by my unorthodox typing style,” said Mr Ingham. “Due to problems with my fingers, I may look like a five-year-old banging away on a keyboard, but it works.”

There wasn’t much known about cerebral palsy when doctors gave him the diagnosis 42 years ago, Mr Ingham said.

“There was nothing detected at birth. I had a reaction to something and my right leg went completely into spasm. My mother, Kathleen Ingham, put me in the bath when it happened. Over the years I had various physiotherapies to regain use of my legs, which worked really well.

“I am not mentally deformed in any way and cerebral palsy is not a disease, it is a condition. You can’t catch it and it is not progressive.”

Mr Ingham has been living off financial assistance while he looks for a job. His dream is to become a receptionist.

“I worked at Coco Reef hotel for five years as a night auditor but was fired after I fell asleep on the job,” he said. “Now that I am getting a bit older I need a job with more regular hours, as working nights was very hard on my body.”

Mr Ingham has a vocational qualification in tourism, received from studies in the UK. In 2001 he was awarded a front office diploma from the Bermuda College. He also has a customer service diploma from the Bermuda College, which he received in 2011.

People often make “the wrong assumptions” about his condition, he said.

“They ask me if I have any form of retardation. One potential employer called me up and asked why I kept applying for positions at her company.

“She was yelling and screaming down the phone. It was quite intimidating. She asked me if I could even stand. I said, ‘Yes’. She went through my resume and said, ‘This isn’t going to work out, you don’t have the experience’. But it is the fact that she asked me if I could stand that bothers me.

“Of course I can stand, and even if I was in a wheelchair would I be less entitled to the job?”

The Human Rights Act 1981 protects physically challenged people from employment discrimination. Mr Ingham believes human resource professionals need more training.

“I wish people in Bermuda wouldn’t fear disability,” he said.

While he waits to find a job, he spends his days working out at The Athletic Club. He also volunteers as a receptionist there, to bolster his resume.

“I put on a lot of weight while working in the hotel industry,” he said. “I have lost about 10lb since May, working out twice a day, four days a week. I’ve also been building up my legs.”

He power walks and recently ran the length of the 3.2km Bailey’s Bay footbridge in Hamilton Parish.

Mr Ingham said his cerebral palsy has taught him perseverance.

“When I’m met with adversity, I dig my heels in,” he said. “There are times when my faith is tested and I want to give up, but something seems to pull me back. It has made me stronger.”

Part of the reason he wanted to share his experience was to encourage other people in Bermuda with similar challenges.

“There is a very competitive job market out there right now,” he said. “I just want to tell other people with disabilities to hang on.

“There is hope. There are always opportunities out there. I look at it in terms of the glass being half-full, not half-empty.”

Contact him on 234-5495 or phillipingham@gmail.com.