“I think organisations need to look at what people with disability can bring as opposed to what they can’t. Sometimes they only see the wheelchair, and what they’re ignoring is everything else.”
Life Without Barriers’ NDIS Support Coordinator Allan Bunyan loves seeing other people achieve their potential. A NDIS participant himself, he deeply enjoys helping people access services that will significantly improve their quality of life.
“My favourite part of my role is linking people to services that are of great benefit to them. This can include a range of things, but some examples are assisted technology and things like community support.
“It’s so rewarding to guide people through processes, help them navigate funding streams and then see them get the things they need. It’s a great feeling.”
Allan, who was born with congenital condition phocomelia, has worked at Life Without Barriers’ Cairns office for over a year. For him, the support of his manager has been an integral part of his positive workplace experience.
“[My manager] Asher has been a massive advocate for me and the things I need. In between the transition of our office, we had constant discussions about the requirements I need to do my job. He’s been instrumental in helping me communicate to upper management about it. For example, I have a heightened desk, a smaller keyboard and various other adjustments that enable me to do the job in the way I need to.”
Allan uses a wheelchair and says he has experienced barriers to employment in the past. He believes that in order to make real and lasting change to the employment rate for people with disability, employers must be willing to look beyond someone’s disability.
“[For me] the biggest barrier to inclusiveness is that management often see, or focus on, people’s disability first.
“I think organisations need to look at what people with disability can bring as opposed to what they can’t. Sometimes they only see the wheelchair, and what they’re ignoring is everything else.”
“Yeah, I might need a few adjustments to do my job, but when I have them, I’m good as gold and I can meet all my targets.”
At Life Without Barriers, our doors are always open to people with disability. We are proud to be an accredited Disability Confident Recruiter through the Australian Network on Disability (AND). This means we are unequivocally committed to ensuring our recruitment and selection processes are accessible to people with disability.
