Region 16 Updates

The Committee for Portland in partnership with the Glenelg Transition Action Network, NDCO and United Way”

Presents

Free Community Breakfast with the focus of

“Employ-Ability, the benefits of employing people with disability”

With Special Guest Don Elgin, World Athletic Champion, Paralympian, motivator and larrikin!

Thursday November 19th at Richmond Henty Blue Room

7.15am for a 7.30am start

RSVP essential

Each year the Committee for Portland hosts a free Community Breakfast, this year they have worked together with Glenelg Transition Action Network and with funding from United Way, to add an important and inspirational message to the event.

Employing people with a disability delivers many rewards for the employee and it can have a wonderful impact on your business, your staff and your customers.

To help deliver this message the Community Breakfast will include a special Guest speaker Don Elgin.  Don represented Australia in the athletics at four World Championships, three Paralympic Games, two World Cups and a Commonwealth Games.

Don is living proof that with the right attitude, anything is possible. Having excelled in elite sport and mixed it with some of the biggest names in the film industry, he creates powerful, tailor made presentations based on his real life experience. Don takes his audience behind the scenes on his extraordinary journey from little bush battler to world record beater.   This boy from the bush delivers – he is entertaining, motivational and an all round larrikin.

The Glenelg Transition Action Network (GTAN) came together in early 2013, facilitated by the Glenelg and Southern Grampians LLEN.  The GTAN identified that a number of young people with disabilities in the region do not take up the opportunity for further education or work after school, and that there was a need to locally establish a group to put local strategies in place to help address this issue. 

So, working together with the Committee for Portland, United Way and GTAN members including representatives from GSG LLEN , NDCO, Kyeema, WDEA, South West TAFE, Portland Bay School, Westvic, Bayview College, Portland Secondary College, Heywood District Secondary College, DHS and Glenelg Shire Council are presenting this year’s community breakfast with a clear  focus on:  Employ-Ability , the benefits of employing people with disability”

With the recent focus on the Melbourne Cup, people will not be forgetting the name Michelle and Steve Payne in a hurry.     It is a wonderful story in many ways, but one highlight is how it demonstrates that if we focus on the abilities of people who have a disability, we can provide great employment opportunities and undeniably a feeling of confidence, belonging and pride to the employee. 

Many local employers have already acted on this opportunity, they have identified suitable roles/tasks within their workplace and have employed a person with a disability.  The benefits are clear to everyone involved business owners, staff, customers and the greater community.

Quotes regarding the event: 
Pam Anderson National Disability Coordination Officer for western Victoria and GTAN committee member stated; “Employing people with disability is the right thing to do. Not because it’s right in the moral sense (although it is!), rather because it’s right in the business sense. It is an accepted fact that diverse businesses are more likely to innovate and thrive. Australia’s businesses can no longer expect to find the right people for their business while ignoring one in five possible star employees.  Diversity comes with fully inclusive employment practices and being a disability-confident organisation is the key to success… remember we are all human beings who have a need to feel part of something, something that helps us feel wanted and trusted.”  

Anne Murphy , Executive Officer from GSG LLEN " Thanks to our community partners who have worked together to build opportunities and have provided this excellent opportunity to explore potential employment opportunities for young people with a disability. This will greatly assist in building more pathways for our young people."

Anita Rank, Executive Officer from the Committee for Portland Stated "The Committee for Portland has a role to play with regards to creating more jobs that helps families, that builds a town and enables the development of other activities. We are delighted to facilitate this opportunity for business to learn more about how they can employ people with a disability, in the end it can be a win for win for everyone".

Nicole Angelino, Executive Officer, United Way Glenelg :  “We hope the community breakfast will encourage positive partnerships with local employees to reduce barriers facing young people with a disability.  “Australian studies (Deakin 2002) have shown that on average employing a person with a disability does not cost any more than employing people without a disability. People with a disability deserve the opportunity to achieve genuine and fulfilling careers.”