Welcome to Martin's blog

Post-placement support I was so proud to be a part of NOVA Transition’s graduation celebrations last week! TTW is a two-year program designed to prepare school leavers for the workforce. And it does this very well, if I do say so myself. In 2016, NOVA found award-wage work or further education for 82 young Sydney-siders with a disability in hospitality, childcare, administration, warehousing, retail, horticulture, construction, hairdressing and the auto industry. Seventeen of these jobs

Zero exclusion’ means we don’t give up on people Why set up a Disability Employment Service? Or, to go back to basics, why create a legislative framework such as Australia’s Disability Services Act 1986? Those of us with long experience in the field might yield to cynicism and disappointment when contemplating these questions in 2016. We might mutter darkly about where the road paved with good intentions inevitably leads. Myself included. However, the answers remain clear

Choice is only choice when you understand your options Here’s a question for you: Would you like a white one or a green one? Come on, decide! What’s it to be? White or green? Of course, you answer will depend on whether it’s a yoghurt or a late-model jaguar. If you’re being offered yoghurt then you’ll go with white but if it’s a jaguar it’s best to choose green. Choice is only  when you know and

The NDIS is a great start Hallelujah! Finally, people with a disability are being asked what they want and what they need. This can only be a good thing, right? Mostly right. The National Insurance Disability Scheme (NDIS) approach suits educated and articulate people with disability, people who know their options and understand the consequences of their choices. For many vision-impaired and hearing-impaired people and people in wheel chairs, the NDIS can’t come soon enough.

Lead job-seeking campaigns with client strengths – too much to ask? Most of us know what kind of job we’d enjoy, and what we’re good at. Nobody has a better handle on your interests, skills and experience than you do, right? Imagine you are actively seeking work, yet no one ever asks you to produce a CV. Worse, you find that someone has created their own negative version, focusing on what they think you can’t achieve. And

Budget 2015 Not sure about the Budget pluses and minuses so can’t comment. But these things, specific to disability employment, are pretty good: • $2.2 million investment from 1 July 2015 over four years to allow young people with disability to receive up to six months of Disability Employment Services (DES) support while participating concurrently in State and Territory post-school employment or transition to work programs, giving them the extra support they need to get into the