Speaker 1 00:30
Welcome to this week's episode of New Horizons, I'm Vaughn Benison. This week we speak with Madison Braim with Blind Citizens Australia and she's working on the Eye to the Future project. Tell us a little bit about the project and what it actually means for blind and vision impaired people.
Speaker 2 00:46
Absolutely. So yes, I am working on An Eye to the Future and we are now in our third iteration of the project and we're continuing to support our members throughout their job search and their chosen career. And I think that's a really important part of our project is that we do focus on what do our members want? What do you as an individual want to go into in your career and how can we support you to get there as opposed to placing someone into a role that they might be a good stepping stone, but it might not be what they're looking for.
So we're in our third iteration. We're supporting our job seekers with job readiness, including how to prepare and update your own resume and cover letter for each role, engaging in the job search and identifying roles, working through applications, interview preparation, the big topic of disclosure and how to approach that workplace adjustments, and then once in a role support as you settle into the workplace. So yes, we work with job seekers and with employers on the other side of that coin, which we'll get into a little bit later. And I think I guess the difference that An Eye to the Future brings compared to other programs and also where we came from is that it's very driven by the job seeker.
We ask the questions of say, what career do you want? What opportunities are you looking for? What skills do you need for these opportunities? And how can we support you to get there? And then we're here to support you through that journey with mentoring, resources, tools, discussions, group activities such as job readiness workshops, and then one -on -one discussions about your journey, how you got to where you are today and where you want to go in the future. It's really about building skills that you'll take with you for life.
Speaker 1 02:50
How do people get involved if they are a job seeker who would like some assistance from the project? How can people find out more and get involved?
Speaker 2 02:59
Yeah, so if a job seeker would like to be a part of an Eye to the Future in the one -on -one mentoring or know more about our upcoming workshops, we will be releasing some information in our upcoming member update this Wednesday. It can also be found on the Eye to the Future website. There's some registration links to submit an expression of interest to an Eye to the Future, and from there, one of our project officers will get in contact with you and start that one -on -one discussion about who are you, where have you been and where do you want to go in your future career.
Speaker 1 03:33
Let's talk about the job-ready workshops and exactly what they do.
Speaker 2 03:37
Yep. So we are running job ready workshops. And at the start of this year, we're running a series of workshops that surround a positive mindset. And the first workshop has been run last month, and that recording is available on our YouTube channel. And then we also have two more workshops that follow one, that they're not, you don't have to have attended the first one to attend the second two. But, you know, great to listen to the previous one as well.
So on Thursday, the 29th of February 10am, we'll be running our second workshop, which is a positive mindset towards assistive technology in the workplace. And in that workshop, we're going to be speaking with assistive technology providers. They will demonstrate and speak about the latest technology opportunities, and provide insights on developing a positive mindset towards assistive technology in the workplace. We'll also be speaking with some job seekers who have displayed, who have shown, who have embodied a positive mindset towards assistive technology in their journey towards creating their career opportunities.
And then in the next, the following job ready workshop, a positive mindset towards creating career opportunities, which will be on Thursday, the 4th of April at 10am. Again, we'll have some guest speakers who have created some really wonderful career opportunities for themselves. And how they've gone about, where do they want to go? What education do I need to get there? How can I start to build my networks to create those opportunities? And how they've got to the success that they've found in life so far.
So that's our series of job ready workshops for the start of this year. And then towards the end of the year, we'll also be running more job ready workshops, but this is our series for the start of this year.
Speaker 1 05:34
What types of assistive technologies do we typically see in the workplace for blind and vision impaired people?
Speaker 2 05:41
It depends on the individual and what they need within the workplace. There's assessments that can be done by different organisations such as Vision Australia and Job Access to come out and assess the workplace depending on the role that you're doing. Your individual needs will depend on what technology is going to be put into the workplace. That could be screen readers, it could be Zoom text, it could be learning how to use the accessibility features that are already built into some computer systems. There's lots of different options for different people and the discussion will be focusing on you know what do you need, it's going to be different for each person.
Speaker 1 06:26
Yeah, I think it's really important that we understand the technologies that are available and how they can be applied in a given situation and for whom they work, but also very importantly is that people know how to use their assistive technology and have access to good and efficient training resources to enable them to make the most out of that technology.
Speaker 2 06:50
And to add to that, part of our workshop is really having some training or knowledge on your assistive technology is good, but it's also practicing, practicing those skills that you're learning that you'll take into the workplace or from education, keeping those skills at top notch as much as you can so that when you do go into the workplace, you already know how to use your computer skills the best that you can. And then you're learning the job on top of that. But just that practice piece, having that positive mindset towards your assistive technology comes down to having that mentality of I've got to stay on top of this, I'm going to practice this.
Speaker 1 07:30
One of the issues that we see quite regularly is there's a lot of capacity building programs out there for disabled people who need to become quote, job reading, unquote. But a lot of the time we hear from people that they face attitudinal barriers and societal barriers from employers in particular, you know, stating, well, we couldn't possibly have a blind or vision impaired person in this role. What is An Eye to the Future doing in that area? And what does BCA's take on that generally?
Speaker 2 08:01
Yes, absolutely agree that there is a need for education for employers and businesses. And we, on the other side of our program working together with our job seekers, we support employers to think differently about their recruitment and support them to employ someone who's blind or vision impaired. We support employers to create an accessible recruitment process, education and awareness for their teams, assistive technology. What is it? Where is it applicable? And check in, if there's a successful placement or someone from an eye to the future is working with an employer, we check in with both the employer and the employee as they settle into the workplace.
And we're running, similar to the job, job ready workshops that we just spoke about, we're running business workshops that businesses from all across Australia can attend to learn very similar to the job ready workshops, learn about us accessible and inclusive recruitment practices, where we'll talk about similar things that we've spoken in the job ready, but from a HR perspective, from a manager perspective, what does it mean to have assistive technology in the workplace? And in that, we will have assistive technology providers speaking to that topic because they do this day in, day out with the assistive technology. And we'll be supporting that conversation between the employers and the assistive technology providers.
We're also talking with employers about reasonable adjustments within the workplace, which continues on from the assistive technology discussion. But what are some reasonable adjustments and what supports are there for employers to make these adjustments? I guess how we bring this to employers is that it's necessary for some, but it's good for all.
Speaker 1 09:57
We know that for some time there's been a huge gap of unemployment for people who are blind or vision impaired and I think the statistics are somewhat staggering depending on who you ask, 70 to 80% of working age blind or vision impaired people are out of work. Are we seeing change in this area, particularly positive change, particularly in light of the recommendations handed down by the Disability Rural Commission and of course the push from Australia's disability strategy?
Speaker 2 10:25
It's a place where more work needs to be done, absolutely. And that's one of the reasons why I and I to the future exist. And that's why we continue to work in this space, educating employers, helping people get job ready and stand out to employers. I think there's good will, there's good intention from people to do it, but taking that next step to employing, that's where we come in and we're really supporting employers to take that next step. It's come such a long way from we're not doing it or it's a very big uphill battle to go on. The discussion is happening, the change is happening and it doesn't happen overnight, unfortunately.
Speaker 1 11:10
What are the take-home messages that you would pass on to any job seeker who's listening to this program?
Speaker 2 11:16
It's really around having that positive mindset and that persistence in the job search because it's not something that happens overnight. It is a marathon. It's not a sprint for a lack of better words. If you meet the skill set that you for the require for the industry that you're interested in going into, keep applying for those jobs. Keep building that network. Keep asking the questions. Applying for the roles until someone gives you that opportunity.
Speaker 1 11:45
And what about when you are looking at a job ad, for example, and you face one of these ridiculous barriers that comes up from time to time, like a mandatory requirement for a valid driver's licence? What do you advise people into those circumstances?
Speaker 2 11:59
Well, the question that comes to my mind in that is, is the requirement a driver's licence or is the requirement the ability to travel? And they're different things. I guess one thing is to call an organisation and say, Hey, I see this is the requirement. I just want to ask a few questions about that. And, you know, is the requirement to have a car and a driver's license or is the requirement to be able to get from point A to point B? And is that something that, you know, not to ask the employer that, but to ask yourself, is that something that I can do within this role is to travel or learn using my skills to go from this point to this point?
And that's also something that we are speaking to employers about quite a lot, particularly the driver's license one, because that excludes a lot of people is talking to employers about, is that a nice to have? Or is that an inherent requirement of the role? Often it's a nice to have. Okay, let's talk about that. Driver's licence required or is the requirement to be able to get from this point to this point within the role? Is that a requirement of the role or is it not? And that's an honest discussion that we have with a lot of employers.
Speaker 1 13:16
I know a lot of people who will not apply for a job when the requirement for a driver's license is mentioned because it's an immediate way for an employer to discriminate against you on the basis that you don't have a driver's licence. It's built in discrimination and it has to stop. Maddie, once again, thanks for joining us on the program and we'll be keeping an eye on these workshops and we'll certainly talk to you throughout the year as things develop and as things change.
Speaker 2 13:40
Yes, thank you so much and if you are interested in attending any of these workshops or registering for an Eye to the Future, just keep an eye out on this week's member update. For more details, how to register, all of those details will be in the upcoming member update.
Speaker 1 13:55
And if you want to know more about an Eye to the Future of Employment, eyetothefuture.com.au is that all-important website. But of course, check the Blind Citizens Australia member update if you receive that.
Speaker 1 14:05
If you'd like to get in touch with Blind Citizens Australia, 1 -800 -033 -660 is the number to call. 1 -800 -033 -660 or you can email bcaatbca .org .au. Bcaatbca .org .au In the meantime, I'll talk to you again next week.
Speaker 1 14:23
We'll achieve the realisation of our dreams.
