From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host Sam Colley.
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness and low vision.
Having all the skills, knowledge, education, you know, right up your sleeve. I think that absolutely helps when you step your foot in the workplace, you know your jaws, you know your zoomtext, you know your white cane, how to get around. You just feel confident in that way and no one can take that away from you.
Welcome to the program. This week I'm very excited to welcome a voice who may few of you may be familiar with. Her name is Vildana Praljak. She's the National employment manager at Vision Australia, and I had the great pleasure of catching up with her recently as part of the Career Path podcast. And that interview is coming up very shortly, so make sure to stick around for that one.
Then after we hear from Vildana, it's my great pleasure to welcome Umbreen Williams from personnel Group, who's Allied Health Department are running a series of information sessions around the NDIS and the various clinical services available to people with disabilities in their communities. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. Kicking off the show this week, we feature an abridged version of my chat with National
Employment Manager from Vision Australia, Vildana Praljak. Vildana has lived experience of low vision, and this week you'll hear from her as she busts some common myths faced by numerous members of the blind and low vision community when interacting in the workforce. So without further ado, let's hear from Vildana right now. Today I'm excited to be joined by Vildana Praljak. Welcome, Vildana.
Thank you Sam. And well done on pronunciation of my last name.
No problem at all.
Pretty spot.
On. It's important to get people's names right, I think. Definitely. So good to hear. Now, firstly, Vildana, how can we break the myth that vision loss limits career options and help everyone to see the endless possibilities across industries like technology, finance and creative arts?
Awesome. Not a big question at all. Do we have three hours? How do we break those myths? It is quite tricky, I think. Tricky in a way, to kind of there's not a simple solution to say, yes, we can do this by following these steps one, two and three. I think it comes down to some of the societal stereotypes that have been misapplied to people who are blind or have low vision historically, sometimes at the employer attitudes as well. And how could we do that? I'd say
by probably showcasing some good stories. Employers where the placement into job for a person who's blind has low vision, has been quite successful, has worked well and helped employer to position themselves as an inclusive employer and to be honest,
really increase their competitive advantage. I'd say it would be around us as a community of people who are blind to have a vision, really making sure that we have all of our education technology skills or what we call job readiness really up to date, because that really helps us to kind of showcase our talents and who we
are really as a person. So that means if you're using screen readers being quite good and practicing and having enough experience in navigating computers or getting good skills and strategies in getting around the community and public transport, as well as some of those independent living skills around, even just like, how are you going to make a cup of tea in the office? Just all of that, I'd say, would probably come under that big umbrella of job readiness.
I'll try and summarize it in a very, um, it's kind of both way work. The societal and the employer attitude needs shifting. But also we have to, as a community, be able to showcase our talents and our possibilities in the best possible light and be job ready.
There are a few myths out there. For example, people might think, oh, there's only a few jobs I can do as someone with vision loss. So how can we challenge that belief, that vision loss limits career choices and inspire people to pursue diverse roles.
Again, it comes back to connecting and being a part of community of people who are blind or have low vision and really looking out for those positive role models and to be honest, just approaching them, having a conversation with them and seeing, you know, how did you get there? What did you do? What worked? What didn't work? What is some of the advice that you can share? It's
not a linear path. Absolutely. And there's a lot of ups and downs in anyone's journey, but I think it's just kind of connecting and being quite proactive with the broader blindness and low vision communities, because there are some
exceptional leaders in those spaces. In my day to day job, I have had the opportunity to get to know quite a few different people that are working in all sorts of jobs everything from administrative roles, warehousing jobs all the way through to executive jobs in the government and large corporations like banks. Cybersecurity in community services in financial sector. Honestly, yeah. Where they say where there's an internet connection, Fiction. There is a job for someone who is blind and has
low vision. But again, not to say that everyone has to have a job in the office. Absolutely. There are an incredible technologies now put in different environments that you can do some more hands on type jobs as well. I can't see us really driving airplanes for now, but the way technology is going, you know, why not?
Yeah. Who knows?
One day see that as one of the options?
Absolutely. Yeah. And people who are blind or have low vision, they often face a few issues with perhaps self-esteem or confidence. Or can I do the job? Am I capable? And they have this nagging feeling in their brain, oh, you know, I'll always be at a disadvantage in the workplace, but how can we embrace the strengths that come with living with vision loss, such as adaptability and resilience, and use those to excel in the workplace?
You're spot on. So as someone who is blind or has low vision and I absolutely, I am legally blind myself. I've acquired vision loss, and I absolutely can kind of tell a bit of a difference between the life before and after vision loss. And like you said, the adaptability, the flexibility, just the workarounds and the practicalities that come with vision loss. I'd absolutely say that's been a huge
advantage for my own career progression. I think it's not a one size fits all approach, but I'd say celebrating some of the strengths that you have and absolutely like that sense of feeling like an imposter or this is not where I belong, or I feel like someone has just given me this role because of XYZ, not because I'm talented. I've been there. So I think it's just making the most out of any opportunity. And the confidence
will be built by a sense of achievement. I'd say just if you are starting really small, volunteering in your local community, or even if you like, for Vision Australia, and contributing and seeing the impact of your work and slowly kind of starting to work towards your first job, that all helps to flex those muscles of confidence and self-esteem. So just trying to build as many as you can, those opportunities where you can contribute and feel like you
are a part of something. And again, having all the skills, knowledge, education, you know, right up your sleeve, I think that absolutely helps when you step your foot in the workplace, you know your jaws, you know your zoom text, you know your white cane, how to get around you just feel confident in that way, and no one can take that away from you. And you know, I always say vision loss is not the most exciting thing about me. There's so much I can do and stuff that I've done
and the achievements and failures as well. But I'd say having all of those definitely being quite familiar with the technology, getting around and living independently, I think that's the biggest, biggest catalyst to anyone's good, healthy confidence.
And following on from that Vildana, there's a related kind of thought that people might have where they might think, oh, employers won't want to hire me because of my vision loss, but how can we shift that narrative and help employers recognize that talent and diverse perspectives, not eyesight, are what drives success.
It's a complex one, and different employers or even industries are at different stages of their sort of inclusive hiring practices. In the employment services at Vision Australia, we partner with several different employers and some are very much advanced in their journey of inclusive hiring. We have a pipeline pretty much with some employers. I hope they will not mind me naming them like Apple for example. We work very directly with the talent acquisition team and they are very,
very open to accommodate. But they also want to see the talent as they say. They really want to see the people being hungry for the work and really wanting to get out there and achieve. And I think it's really building on that, showcasing those stories, but also allowing Employers because often the attitudes from my experience, it really comes from ignorance and not knowing what to do. What's the right thing to do? So people do two things.
Either they say or do something inappropriate or disengage completely. What we're trying to do, I'd say, would be, can we have a very open and confidential conversation with employers? What is it that concerns you? And sometimes I know some blind, low vision peers would go and show them how they use technology. And it's like, this is just how I do things. If that's what's going to change
the levels of confidence for the employer. Sometimes you can point them to different success stories or have a conversation, arrange a coffee, catch up with that potential employer or recruiter, and invite a colleague that's really successful and has done
it in their career. There's just different ways of thinking outside of the box, but I think as a community, I'd say we'll have to be just open and prepared for that conversation where people may ask a lot of potentially awkward questions, but I think it really comes from ignorance more than anything.
Vildana what would you say to somebody who might be thinking, oh, I can't pursue a career in technology or fast paced industries? How can we encourage people with vision loss to embrace those sorts of careers? Fast paced industries like technology, finance, healthcare, where assistive tools can level the playing field?
Absolutely. And I've heard few senior leaders who are blind or have low vision saying there's never been a better time to be blind than now. And they're probably referring to the times when they would go to blind school versus to what it is today, where the whole world is sitting in our pocket. I'd say technology is the biggest enabler for employment and careers. For someone who has blindness or low vision. Again, be curious. Just play with
those different software applications. I mean, there's a lot of talk around it in the community, but it's just incredible what it can do and the way it's going to be used in the workplace. You know, just stay on top of that. Read, educate yourself, have a go. If it's your first employment, try in a voluntary capacity first and see how you go. There's just different ways of cracking that tech world, but I'd say there are some fantastic examples of people who are blind or have low vision.
Even at Vision Australia, for example, we have blind developers or companies like Microsoft or Apple as well. Optus as well. They some of their senior executives are people with lived experience of blindness and low vision. Westpac, like all these big banks? Absolutely. It is very possible. But it comes back to like, what is my bag of tricks and my bag of tools that I can use and obviously
knowledge and those skills, curiosity and having fun. I would say would be probably the number one that I would say that would be my bag of tricks.
What about those people who might be thinking, I don't have the confidence to go for my dream job? What steps can be taken to build that sort of confidence, focusing on strengths and feeling ready to pursue a dream job with support from career coaching and skills training.
It's kind of chicken or egg. I don't think that any of us going to employment super confident. I remember when I was first starting and, you know, manager would ask me to do something like, what the hell? And I would just Google it. I think we partially would have to accept to be uncomfortable with uncertainty and not knowing that we don't know everything. I'd say, again, like practicing on a smaller kind of project, let's say at school or university or TAFE or volunteering. Just flex those
muscles there. Just see how you go. It's a safe environment for you to trial and get some feedback. Work placements, internships, graduate programs they're all fantastic environments for someone to grow. And there are wonderful, wonderful mentorship programs out there as well that I can think of that really create that safe space to have a conversation and try things and hear from different perspectives. I'd also say the dream job
is not a linear path to get to it. It's rarely really that, yeah, I want to be a CEO or I want to be an expert or an executive in a bank. It's a bit of a jungle gym. You go a bit left and right and one step forward and two backwards and then three steps ahead. And it's never really a straight, but I think as long as you kind of embrace it with a bit of, like I said, a curiosity and fun and exploring and desire to learn, I think everything will fall into place naturally.
Phil, Donna, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you and dispel all the different range of myths faced by the blind and low vision community in the workforce.
Thank you Sam. Thanks for the opportunity.
Vildana Praljak, their National Employment Manager from Vision Australia, chatting with me today about how we can bust the most common myths faced by members of the blind and low vision community when out and about in the workforce. If you'd love to hear the full episode, you can find the career path on your favorite podcast platform or through the Vision Australia library. This episode will very shortly be available in full, so be sure to check out the
page very shortly. I'm Sam Corley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio. Associated Stations of Reading Radio and the Community Radio Network. That was Vildana praljak there from Vision Australia. If you'd like to hear more from Vildana or you missed any part of that interview today on top of heading to the Career Path podcast. You can also find most of the interview on this week's episode of Talking Vision. Simply head to the Vision
Australia Radio website at VA radio Dot. That's VA radio all one word.org or find us on your favorite podcast platform or through the Vision Australia library. And now back
to the show with Umbaran. Today I'm speaking with Umbaran Williams, Business Development Manager at personnel Group, who's allied health department are running a series of information sessions, two of which are coming up very shortly in Perth and Wollongong for people to ask any questions they might have about not only the NDIS but behavioral support, psychology or occupational therapy. So to tell us all about the sessions. It's my
great pleasure to welcome Maureen. Right now, I'm Maureen, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time today.
Well, thanks so much for having me, Sam. I'm very, very excited and I have to let you know this is my second time being on the radio.
Oh, okay.
Hopefully I'll do better than the last time.
No, I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job. First up, um, Maureen, I'd really love to hear about personnel group and in particular the allied health sector where you're working.
Yeah, sure. Um, so the personnel group's been around for about 39 years. So big for next year for us. And, uh, we started working in the disability employment space. And we're very community minded. We're not for profit. And recently, in the last couple of years, we've expanded into the allied health space. And we're doing that in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Act. So we've got a few clinics
around and some wonderful clinicians doing some amazing work. And my role I've only recently come on in April and my role is business development manager. And I suppose just connecting with other people in the community who are looking for supports as well as other NDIS providers. Yeah, just trying to really collaborate with people and see how we can help them.
Okay. And I'd love to hear a bit more about those clinics. And as I understand, there's a couple coming up this month in fact. So tell us a bit about those.
Yeah. So we've got a few clinics in, as I mentioned, in four different states. And what we've decided to do is a few free therapy info sessions. So in our clinic in Spearwood in Perth, we've got a free therapy info session coming up on the 16th of June, as well as our clinic in Dapto, New South Wales. We've got one on the 26th of June and anyone in the community, whether they have an NDIS plan, don't have one. Just have some questions. Can just come into our clinic
and have a chat with our clinicians. So in our clinic we have Mitchell, who is a wonderful psychologist combined with behaviour support practitioner and our clinicians in Spearwood. We've got three of them who'll be present on the day. We'll have an occupational therapist, psychologist and positive behavior support practitioner. So yeah, any questions anyone has can be around school readiness.
If they've got children can be about themselves. If they've got anxiety or challenges with sleep behaviours, anything really that people may not have access to a clinician to chat about. They can come and have a chat with our allied health professionals and it's going to be a very casual environment for them to do that and don't need to sign up. You can just walk in and hopefully it'll create a comfortable space for people where they can feel they can have those conversations.
And let's get the locations of those places in Spearwood and Dapto. For people who are interested, but not quite sure where those places are and how they'd navigate their way there, and mobility is super important and being able to find your way around. What's the best way for people to make their way to the Spearwood or Dapto locations, if they require public transport or accessible ways to get around?
So within Dapto, which is quite near Wollongong in New South Wales, is sort of on a main highway. So if you are able to take public transport or a car and get there, it's right in the middle of a very busy area with shopping centres and things around there, so it's quite accessible and easy to get to. Our clinic in Perth in Spearwood is a little bit out of the way. Located south of the river. So if you're coming from, say, Perth CBD, there's a few options.
You can take a train and get off at Mandurah station and then get a bus at Fremantle station and get off there. Um, otherwise you can take a train straight to Fremantle station and then it's a bit of a walk about ten minutes from there. And the address for that one is three by 21 Mill Road in Spearwood. And the clinic is located, as I said, on Princes Highway. So that's number 62, Princess Highway in Dapto.
Perfect. And um, let's get the days and times again for people out there of those two sessions in Dapto and Spearwood.
Yeah, sure. So, uh, for the Spearwood clinic, We're having the session on the 16th of June from 3 to 4 p.m., and for the dental clinic, it's the 26th of June from 3 to 4:30 p.m..
And, um, brain, let's go into the reasons behind why personnel Group is holding the info sessions.
The reason we came up with it is, I suppose, Manyfold. But one of the reasons being we are very committed to supporting the local communities we live and work in, so we just wanted to support them and be able
to be available to answer any questions people had. But also, I think working in the sector, working within the NDIS space, within the disability space, I think I and a lot of my colleagues, we find ourselves to be very, very privileged to have easy access to allied health professionals, medical professionals, a lot of people who have, you know, answers to even the smallest questions we might have. And we're very, very aware of the fact that a lot of people
don't have access to that. People may not have, you know, the funds or the connections to be able to just, you know, phone a friend and ask a question about whether their child is struggling with behaviors or, you know, things like that. So I think it's very important for people to have a safe space and an easily accessible space where they can go and ask questions without judgment and not have to, you know, pay hundreds of dollars
to access. And people may not have an NDIS plan, or people may not feel comfortable going through a GP to get a referral to a specialist. So I think just creating those spaces where people feel comfortable and can just ask any questions and don't have to pay a lot of money or pay money at all in this case. And yeah, there's nothing in it for us other than just trying to support our community better.
And as you've said, I'm boring. People don't need to necessarily register. They can simply show up to those information sessions to find out more and meet up with the different staff members of the allied health offices. But if people would like to know a bit more about personnel Group or the allied health work that you're doing, what's the best way for them to look into it and perhaps find out more info?
Yeah, so there's a few different ways people can find out more information. So we've published the events on Eventbrite. So if you go on to Eventbrite.com and you type in the personnel group, the events will be there. So you can have a look at those. You can also find us on the social media platforms. So we are on Facebook LinkedIn and you can check our website as well. So we do update our social media and our website
quite regularly with information. But yeah, that's pretty much the best way I'd say to find the information or I'm happy to give out my details as well, as the Flyers will have my details on them as well, so you can reach out to me directly via email or phone.
We'll get that website first before we jump into that, if that's okay.
Yeah. So it's personnel group with a double n.com. Oh.
Wonderful. And for people who'd like to perhaps get in touch with you, what are those details there?
Yeah, I'm happy to share my email and contact number, if that's all right, to share.
If you're comfortable with that. Yeah.
Yeah. No, I'm more than happy to. So my direct contact number is 0432 826 771. So feel free to call or text. And if you'd like to send me an email my email address is U. Williams at personnel Group with a double n.com.au.
I've been speaking today with Umbreon Williams, Business Development manager at the Allied Health Department of Personnel group. Chatting to us today about a series of information sessions coming up later this month to help people find out a little bit more about the services available to them through personnel Group in terms of NDIS plans or otherwise. Umbreon, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to have a chat with you and talk about the info sessions.
No worries at all. Sam, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it and I feel very, very privileged to be talking to you today.
And that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime on our email at Talking Vision at Vision Australia. That's talking vision all. One word at Vision Australia dot. But until next week it's Sam Corley saying bye for now.
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 384 746. That's one 384 746 or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia dot.