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Waste of money to start job preparation at year 10 The NDIA are going to start investing in disability employment services a year earlier, in year 10. This will be a complete waste of effort, time, resources, money ($130 million!) and good will. It won’t make a scrap of difference. Why? Because the nature of our jobseekers is that skills learnt in year 10 rarely transfer to the following year and these skills even less

‘Ruled out’ by disability employment services? While I applaud the initiative and determination from the parents of this young man on the autism spectrum, at the same time I am ashamed of the evolution of Disability Employment Services (DES). For background, read this article. But here’s the summary. Brodie’s disability was deemed too great for his allotted DES to handle. However, in truth Brodie has no greater level of disability than those for whom the Disability

No need to include Disability Employment Services in the Royal Commission For the record, we don’t need to include Disability Employment Services (DES) in the Royal Commission. All we need to do is look at the top five services in New South Wales to see what works. Then replicate. It frustrates me no end that successive governments haven’t made an effort to find out what works. You’d think they’d care about their investment. Our investment. At present,

Attitudinal change leads to meaningful reform It’s well known that I’m against quotas. They’re discriminatory, paternalistic and humiliating. And they don’t work! Quite simply, quotas don’t change the number of ‘minority’ people participating in the workforce.  to learn more about this seemingly radical view. But if you’re against quotas, you’ve got to be in favour of something else. So, what does work? Attitudinal change leads to meaningful reform. Not quotas. Not condescending ‘othering’. Rather, reaching people

Five steps to workplace inclusion – step 5 Support middle management to understand, implement and assess progress So now you’ve: Well done! You’ve created the framework for an inclusive workplace. Now you must support middle management to understand, implement and assess progress. Don’t miss this step. It’s vital. With strong leadership from the top, this is what you do: 1. Clearly set out the organisation’s aims and expectations with realistic stretch targets 2. Appoint a

Five steps to workplace inclusion – step 4 Regularly invest in staff training So, you’ve devised and are implementing a well-documented plan. You’re incorporating inclusion principles across all of the business and creating opportunities for cross-functional interaction among the team. If you haven’t already now it’s time to regularly invest in staff­ training. I’ve written at length about thevalue of staff­ training. In short, well-trained, well-supported staff­ are vital to any workplace. Its success depends