Ellie Cole's Couch: Amplify your inclusion

Ellie: Ellie: Hi everyone,

Ellie: I'm APM Ambassador Ellie Cole and today
we will be discussing visual impairment

Ellie: and the vital role of accessibility in
both in employment and in everyday life.

Ellie: I'm so delighted to introduce you to
today's guest Ayesha and her beautiful

Ellie: seeing eye dog, Princess, and together
we're going to explore the unique barriers

Ellie: faced by individuals with visual
impairments in the workplace and discuss

Ellie: practical steps that employers can take
to create more inclusive environments.

Ellie: We'll also touch on the importance
of community support and awareness

Ellie: in making public spaces
accessible for everyone.

Ellie: Ayesha, thank you so much
for joining us today

Ellie: and bringing along a very special
guest as well.

Ellie: Princess, who is still awake
but I don't think will be by the end,

Ellie: not because of the content
of the conversation,

Ellie: because it's a very relaxing
environment to be in.

Ellie: Are you able to introduce your name,
your age and your role at APM?

Ayesha: Ayesha: So my name is Ayesha Patterson.

Ayesha: I'm 32 and I'm a LAC Community

Ayesha: Capacity Builder at APM Communities.

Ellie: Ellie: Now tell us about where you grew up.

Ayesha: Ayesha: I grew up in Mandurah,
which is south of Perth.

Ayesha: Lived there my whole life
and I still live there.

Ayesha: It's great because you can be
close to Perth

Ayesha: to get to and from,
but you're not in the city.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah.
And what was it like growing up there?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Everyone knows everyone so,

Ayesha: and you kind of have that environment now,

Ayesha: with my work, people come in and are like “hi, Ayesha”
and they go, “how do you know that person?”

Ayesha: I'm like, “oh, you know went to high school with them
or, did some community work with them.”

Ayesha: Which is kind of cool.

Ellie: Ellie: And, tell me about what it was like
going to school in Mandurah.

Ellie: Did you go to a school that helped you

Ellie: with your vision impairment
or what was your schooling like?

Ayesha: Ayesha: My schooling, I went to a private school.

Ayesha: But I didn't advertise
that I had disability.

Ayesha: I had very
good vision at the time that I thought,

Ayesha: but even though I could hardly see
anything,

Ayesha: and I just wasn't accepting of the disability,
it took me a while to accept.

Ayesha: So I wore magnifying glasses
because glasses were cool.

Ellie: Ellie: Glasses were cool?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.

Ellie: Ellie: That's a bit backwards
from what I grew up with.

Ayesha: Ayesha: I know.

Ayesha: And I would borrow my friend's notes

Ayesha: and everything
just so I could still do school and

Ayesha: I learned how to listen a lot.

Ayesha: Yeah, I didn't use any equipment

Ayesha: or anything until after high school.

Ellie: Ellie: So it sounds like when you were growing up,
even with a disability, you really learned

Ellie: how to adapt to your surroundings very,
very quickly and just to make things work.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah, I think it’s a really
amazing skill to have,

Ellie: and I think a lot of people in
the communities are really starting

Ellie: to identify a lot of the strengths
that people with disabilities have.

Ellie: And, you know, there's so many stories
like yours where you have difficulty

Ellie: navigating some things in everyday life,
but you just happen to find a way around it.

Ellie: And it sounds like you had friends there
that helping you with your notes.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah, they did, but that was my stubborn stage.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah. You mentioned before, it was
a little better when you were younger?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah. So my vision has been getting
worse as I've gotten older.

Ayesha: It will lead to complete blindness.

Ayesha: So the condition I have,
the cells in my retina are dying.

Ayesha: So all the ones that are in charge
of your peripheral vision,

Ayesha: night vision, color, depth.

Ayesha: And then I have cataracts over
the top as well.

Ayesha: So that makes life interesting.

Ellie: Ellie: I bet it does.

Ellie: Do you have memory, when you were younger,
of ever being able to see clearly, or is it

Ellie: something that has been degrading
since you were a young child?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Before I was four so one of those random circumstances,
I was bitten by a Redback (spider)

Ayesha: and I didn't get the anti-venom,
and it caused the eye condition.

Ayesha: So before that, yeah, I can remember seeing stuff.

Ellie: Ellie: What was it like for you to grow up
and go to school with a disability?

Ellie: You said that you were very good

Ellie: at camouflaging it for a while,
but I'm sure the penny dropped eventually.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Oh, yes.

Ayesha: The penny did drop with a lot of people.

Ayesha: But I've just met up recently
with a school reunion, and

Ayesha: I turned up there with my seeing eye dog,
and they're like, really? You're blind? What?

Ayesha: We had no idea.

Ayesha: And then other people, like, yeah, we knew.

Ayesha: But yeah, it wasn't until after I left high school
that I would, I actually,

Ayesha: you know, accepted my disability
and said, stuff it, I don't care what people think.

Ayesha: And it was the best thing I ever did.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah, absolutely.

Ellie: I think, it's really empowering
to get to that point as well.

Ellie: And I heard you mentioned before that

Ellie: it took you a while
to accept having a disability yourself.

Ellie: Let alone sharing that information
with the rest of the world, which,

Ellie: you know, you should only do so
if you feel like you're in a comfortable

Ellie: and safe environment
to be able to do that.

Ellie: So what was it like for you to,

Ellie: take the time and digest that information
and come to terms with the fact

Ellie: that you did have a disability
and come to terms

Ellie: with accepting
that part of yourself as well.

Ayesha: Ayesha: It was the best thing I ever did.

Ayesha: And, you know, accepting that,

Ayesha: because now, like, everything

Ayesha: that's happened in my life is,

Ayesha: mainly because of
I have a disability, which is great.

Ayesha: It's led to lots of opportunities,

Ayesha: and being able to share and empower
and advocate for others has been great.

Ayesha: And also for myself.

Ellie: Ellie: What kind of opportunities are you speaking
to you when you say that

Ellie: having a disability has led
to a lot of opportunities in your life?

Ayesha: Ayesha: So it led to me to be able to
travel around Australia

Ayesha: a lot, because I got to represent
WA with sport.

Ellie: Ellie: Really? You're an athlete?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Past. I’m injured, so I don’t do sport now.

Ellie: Ellie: I can't believe you've waited 15 minutes
to tell me you're an athlete.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah, so I used to do goalball
and then tenpin bowling.

Ellie: Ellie: So how did you become involved
in the goalball team?

Ellie: I know quite a few of the girls.

Ayesha: Ayesha: I was looking for something to do,

Ayesha: and a sport, something to keep me busy.

Ayesha: And this youth person, who’s in Blind Sports Australia, WA here.

Ayesha: Was like, we've got this sport,

Ayesha: we're looking for female people,

Ayesha: do you want to come and have a go?

Ayesha: And I went up to Perth and watched it

Ayesha: and I was hooked like straight away.

Ayesha: And then competed and represented WA

Ayesha: and all that from 2012 to 2015.

Ellie: Ellie: Incredible.
Did you ever make the Australian team?

Ayesha: Ayesha: No, almost.

Ellie: Ellie: And then you became injured?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.

Ellie: Ellie: I'm not surprised to hear
that you became injured because

Ellie: from my experience playing goalball
and from what I've seen, it is brutal.

Ayesha: Ayesha: It is.
Ellie: Ellie: Absolutely brutal on your body.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.

Ayesha: At the time, there was only 4 or 5 women,
so we were competing

Ayesha: against the guys every training session,
which was very chaotic.

Ayesha: And then yeah, took up
tenpin bowling from 2016 to 2020.

Ellie: Ellie: As someone who had joined an inclusive
sporting team in terms of goalball

Ellie: as well as your tenpin bowling,
what was like that like for you

Ellie: to be able to step into a whole new
community there based on sports?

Ayesha: Ayesha: It was amazing to people

Ayesha: to not think about disability
because we all had different disabilities.

Ayesha: A lot of people would forget

Ayesha: they actually had a disability,
which is awesome.

Ayesha: And then having the confidence
in your coach to be able to say

Ayesha: you can compete against other people,
it was really cool.

Ayesha: I found it really interesting.

Ellie: Ellie: Just then when you said a lot of people
forget that they had a disability,

Ellie: because in my experience,
I forget all the time.

Ellie: It's it's fascinating
to have a difference or impairment,

Ellie: and it's almost like you yourself

Ellie: don't feel any differently
until someone else tells you that you are.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.

Ellie: Ellie: And so when you step into a team
or a place that's really inclusive,

Ellie: no one's telling you
that you are different.

Ellie: And it can be really empowering.
Don’t you think?

Ayesha: Ayesha: It’s so empowering, yeah.

Ayesha: I find that with my role at APM as well,

Ayesha: being capacity builder, I'm making
sure that the community is accessible

Ayesha: and also people with disabilities,
they feel empowered and

Ayesha: I had someone come up to me last week,
they had a full conversation with me,

Ayesha: and they never did that before, you know,
12 months ago, which was amazing.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah, that's really nice to hear.

Ellie: Now I see that you've brought
Princess along here today.

Ellie: You have a seeing eye dog.

Ellie: What role does Princess
play in your day-to-day life?

Ayesha: Ayesha: What doesn’t she do?

Ayesha: She's my sidekick.

Ellie: Ellie: She guided you in pretty
well today.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah. She's my eyes. Literally.

Ayesha: If I didn't have her,
I would be banging into stuff and,

Ayesha: she gives me a lot of independence
to be able to get out and about.

Ellie: Ellie: What was your life
like before Princess came into your life?

Ellie: What is it like now that
she's in your life?

Ayesha: Ayesha: So there was a gap between

Ayesha: the two dogs because
she's my second dog,

Ayesha: and I was on a waitlist for four years.

Ayesha: Between the two dogs
and going from full independence,

Ayesha: having a dog to going back to my cane,

Ayesha: and having to relearn how to use a cane,

Ayesha: and then also having my eyesight,

Ayesha: you know, go down
quite a lot in that space.

Ayesha: I noticed that I wasn't doing a lot of stuff,
what I used to do.

Ayesha: I would rely heavily on friends and support
just to be able to go out and about.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah. Ayesha: Ayesha: But now I can get on the bus
and go to the shopping centre

Ayesha: and meet up with a friend for a coffee, or

Ayesha: go up to Perth for a favourite activity,

Ayesha: me or my friends would go
to Fringe Festival.

Ayesha: So, you know, this year I was actually
able to meet her at a

Ayesha: really nice place and go to the theatre
which was great.

Ellie: Ellie: Walking throughout your community,
accessing the communities,

Ellie: what’s some of the biggest challenges
that you face, just in day-to-day living?

Ayesha: Ayesha: A lot of people try and pat her while I'm

Ayesha: giving commands or walking,
which can distract her and me.

Ayesha: I call them ninja patters, because
they just quickly put their

Ayesha: hand down and try and pat,
and then they walk off.

Ayesha: So yeah, me,
my friends, we call them ninja patters.

Ayesha: And then the other issues I have
a lot is taxis and Ubers.

Ayesha: Unfortunately, a lot of them refuse.

Ayesha: I've had some try and put the
dog in the boot of the car,

Ayesha: or they see the dog and they drive past,

Ayesha: which is it's always an ongoing

Ayesha: issue all over Australia, unfortunately,

Ayesha: refusals for taxis and Ubers.

Ellie: Ellie: I've heard of a lot of experiences and,
and I've read a lot of,

Ellie: I've seen a lot of media
about that as well.

Ellie: About people that use seeing eye dogs
trying to access any kind of transport,

Ellie: and the difficulties
that they face with that,

Ellie: and that can be really challenging
and a huge barrier for people to be able

Ellie: to access communities as well.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yes, totally.

Ayesha: But buses and trains, they’re great, you know.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Or you find a really good taxi driver like I have at home,
and he picks me up for work,

Ayesha: drops me off at home.

Ellie: Ellie: What about some of the challenges
that you face day-to-day

Ellie: just living with a vision impairment?

Ayesha: Ayesha: I try and not look at it as challenges,

Ayesha: or limitations, like limits.

Ayesha: But I try to come away with solutions.

Ayesha: But the most frustrating thing is trying to find
the right top or the right pair of shoes.

Ayesha: Normally I wear, multi-colored flats,
Mary Jane shoes,

Ayesha: and the other day, my friend goes,
you realise you're wearing

Ayesha: the two different shoes, and I'm like,
oh, oopsies.

Ellie: Ellie: I'm sure she understands.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah, so we've run back into the house and, you know,

Ayesha: we found the other shoe, but it's just hilarious.

Ellie: Ellie: You know what?

Ellie: I've actually done that
quite a few times myself

Ellie: because I don't have a vision impairment,

Ellie: but when I go to bed, I leave a shoe on my prosthetic.

Ellie: And then when I was an athlete,
I used to wake up

Ellie: in the middle of the night
almost to go to swimming training.

Ellie: So I would get change in the dark.
So I guess it is similar.

Ellie: And because I already
had a shoe on my foot, I would just grab

Ellie: what I thought would be the right shoe,
and the amount of times

Ellie: I went to training
with two different shoes on

Ellie: because I couldn't
feel the difference in the shoes either,

Ellie: one of my feet was plastic,
so it's quite common.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.

Ellie: Ellie: What are the assumptions that people make about vision
impairments that’s the most common,

Ellie: the most common things that you see
people make assumptions about?

Ayesha: Ayesha: I think the biggest assumption
is that they think that everyone

Ayesha: with vision impairment can read Braille,
and I don't,

Ayesha: and a lot of people in the community
actually don't read Braille.

Ayesha: Some a lot of people do, but not everyone.

Ellie: Ellie: When you were growing up, what was it like
for you to be able to access employment?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Because I know in my community
where I grew up in Victoria,

Ayesha: everybody wanted a job at the age of 14.

Ayesha: And, you know, it was

Ayesha: pretty difficult for me to even get a job
with a physical impairment.

Ellie: Ellie: For you, what was it
like trying to gain employment

Ellie: when you were able to enter the workforce?

Ayesha: Ayesha: It was so challenging. Yeah.
It took me forever to get jobs.

Ayesha: And then I would have to go to TAFE,
do all the qualifications,

Ayesha: and then you go and try to find a job,
you put the interview in,

Ayesha: and then the biggest barrier was,
do you have a driver's license?

Ayesha: So I'm like, no,
why would I have a driver's license?

Ayesha: You don't want me driving?

Ayesha: And then as soon as you'd tick no,
that would be it, you know?

Ayesha: And before APM I was working,

Ayesha: I was able to find casual employment
for non-for-profits,

Ayesha: but a lot of the mainstream, event management work,

Ayesha: as soon as you turned up to the interview
with a cane or seeing eye dog,

Ayesha: they would go nope, sorry,
we've already filled the position or,

Ayesha: you know,
you didn't have a driver's license,

Ayesha: so we've given it to the other person,
even though we've done

Ayesha: the qualifications together,
just really, really sad.

Ayesha: And having that knockback, it,

Ayesha: quite affected my mental health.

Ayesha: And it's also affected
other people's mental health with,

Ayesha: you know, the whole applying for jobs.

Ayesha: But, I was lucky I managed to get a job

Ayesha: at APM Communities,
through volunteering

Ayesha: and then customised employment,
which has been great,

Ayesha: that the customised employment,

Ayesha: has come about.

Ayesha: There's a lot of people now
with disabilities can actually get a job.

Ellie: Ellie: And these types of people
that you're speaking about

Ellie: that have been able to secure employment

Ellie: through the customised employment
that APM do.

Ellie: They're the people that you were speaking
about before, who you know,

Ellie: were being knocked back for jobs
and it was affecting their mental health.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah, well, I was able to get the job
through customised employment.

Ayesha: And I've met two other people,

Ayesha: who have managed to get customised employment
not just through APM, but other organisations.

Ayesha: It's been great.

Ellie: Ellie: So what was that process
like for you to find APM

Ellie: and then to go through the customised
employment to be able to secure a job.

Ellie: What was that process
like, walk me through?

Ellie: How you found it, what it was like for you to go

Ellie: through that process,
how you felt going through that process?

Ayesha: Ayesha: It was very exciting
but daunting at the same time.

Ayesha: So I was volunteering on a project,

Ayesha: that runs

Ayesha: they wanted people with disabilities,
to help run this project,

Ayesha: which I ended up overtaking and running it
completely, which was amazing.

Ayesha: But so came into volunteering
and then the community

Ayesha: capacity builder at the time,
APM manager was like, are you looking?

Ayesha: I was talking to him
and he said, oh, you're looking for a job?

Ayesha: And I said, yes,
because the casual employment that I had,

Ayesha: you know, the grant had just run out.

Ayesha: He goes, oh, send me for your résumé and,

Ayesha: a list of your skills and experiences

Ayesha: and I sent him through, like,
a three page, word document.

Ayesha: And he goes
“how have you done all that in your whole life?”

Ayesha: And I was like, yeah.

Ayesha: Cause, you know, you volunteer
and keep yourself busy.

Ayesha: He goes, oh, okay, I'll send it through

Ayesha: to some people
and see if they're looking for anyone.

Ayesha: And the next minute
I got a phone call from,

Ayesha: lovely lady Penny and Kerri.

Ellie: Ellie: How did that moment feel when,
if you think back to a few years ago,

Ellie: fast forward to receiving that phone call

Ellie: two months after your interview
and then being offered that role.

Ellie: Did that feel like so liberating for you?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Oh yeah, after I got the phone call
I hung up and,

Ayesha: I did a little dance on the spot
and it was full on wooing

Ayesha: and rang my mum straight away at work
and she's like, I'm currently at work.

Ayesha: I'm like, “I got a job,
I got a job”, but she's like, okay.

Ayesha: And you know, we went out and celebrated
because it was the first time,

Ayesha: you know, someone had looked at

Ayesha: skills and experiences and created a job,
which is amazing.

Ellie: Ellie: Yeah. It's incredible.

Ellie: When you just explained
that you had done a little dance

Ellie: and that you were so excited, like
I could just see in your body, then just

Ellie: how excited you were
that feeling that you had.

Ellie: It must reinforce
just how important it is for you

Ellie: to be able to provide that
for other people through APM, right? Ayesha: Yes.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah, I, I'm very excited with
what I do at APM,

Ayesha: and every day is different.

Ayesha: Probably the biggest achievement
was last year.

Ayesha: City of Mandurah won
the accessibility awards

Ayesha: and I was able to help them win
those awards, which was amazing.

Ayesha: With all the work done to, with
other people with disabilities,

Ayesha: to make the town and city more accessible.

Ayesha: It's incredibly empowering.

Ellie: Ellie: What kind of accommodations

Ellie: did APM make to the workplace
in order for you

Ellie: to be able to flourish at work, if any?

Ayesha: Ayesha: So the biggest accommodation
is that they made sure

Ayesha: I had enough desk
space for me and Princess.

Ayesha: So we have a corner desk.

Ayesha: So I have one side of the desk
and she has the other side.

Ayesha: So we're not running over her paws
or banging into her.

Ayesha: Gave me a tour of the whole office,
so I knew where everything was.

Ayesha: And then, so like if there's anything

Ayesha: you need, or we need to make more accessible.

Ayesha: So I put tactile markings
on the microwave, so.

Ayesha: And the tea and the sugar and the coffee.

Ayesha: So that was really good
that they let me just go in and tactile

Ayesha: the on and off power buttons
for the microwave and,

Ayesha: made sure that I had a space
where I can toilet Princess.

Ayesha: So I've got a screen reader, JAWS,

Ayesha: I had to learn how to use
JAWS on my computer.

Ellie: Ellie: JAWS?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah.
Ellie: Ellie: What is that?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Job Access with Speech.

Ayesha: Ayesha: It's a screen reader.

Ayesha: So if you opened up my work laptop, it would
start talking to you straight away.

Ellie: Ellie: You've mentioned before, the independence
that Princess has given you to your life.

Ellie: But how has employment changed your life?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Gives me a purpose to

Ayesha: get up and have a schedule instead of
just lazing around and doing nothing,

Ayesha: or going. “Oh, I might do
this today,” but actually,

Ayesha: I've got work,
you know, three days a week.

Ayesha: It's been great to be able
to also have the money

Ayesha: aspect as well, which has been great.

Ayesha: But yeah, having that set schedule
and having a work

Ayesha: life balance has been amazing.

Ellie: Ellie: If a workplace, an organisation,
a company want to make their place

Ellie: more inclusive for people with vision
impairments, what are the

Ellie: the things that they need
to be considering?

Ayesha: Ayesha: So one of the easiest things would be,
you know,

Ayesha: if someone walks into your workplace,
actually introduce yourself instead of

Ayesha: just assuming
that they know what they're doing

Ayesha: or if they are actually
in the right building.

Ayesha: And there's been a few times where
I've gone, is this the right building?

Ayesha: And saying

Ayesha: a person like, you know,
hello, I'm so-and-so.

Ayesha: Instead of
just started talking automatically.

Ayesha: So I've been a few times
where someone will come up to me.

Ayesha: I have no idea who they are,
but I've just continued talking.

Ayesha: And then my friend goes,
do you know who I am?

Ayesha: I have no idea.

Ayesha: And just voicing directions,

Ayesha: a lot of people gesture or say,
oh, this way, that way.

Ayesha: But I think having specific directions and

Ayesha: allowing the person to get lost
if they need to,

Ayesha: sometimes getting lost
is the best way to find your way unfortunately.

Ellie: Ellie: It's also a great metaphor for life.

Ayesha: Ayesha: And yeah, just don't assume like,
a person might walk in with vision impairment,

Ayesha: but they might be having a good day
and they might be able to see you or,

Ayesha: they might be having a bad day.

Ayesha: Or they might have different fields of vision.

Ayesha: So they might be looking away from you,
but they're actually seeing you.

Ellie: Ellie: So if you were to live in a perfect world
where it was completely accessible

Ellie: for you,

Ellie: I'm thinking about what communities
can do better to support

Ellie: others with vision impairments.

Ellie: What would a perfect community
look like for you?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Perfect community.

Ayesha: Something where you can go into somewhere
that's fully accessible.

Ayesha: Not many people are going to stare at you
or go, you know, you have a disability.

Ayesha: What are you doing here?

Ayesha: Because that still happens.

Ellie: Ellie: So a lot of cultural change?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah, a lot of culture change,

Ayesha: and yeah, we’re really good
with the infrastructure changing.

Ayesha: But I think yeah, a lot of attitude
and culture I think needs to change.

Ayesha: To make it not for just people

Ayesha: with vision impairment,
but anyone with a disability,

Ayesha: and you would find that too.

Ellie: Ellie: I do. But do you find it’s
changing for the better?

Ellie: The more that people are becoming aware
and educated around disability?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Yeah. You know, and I think,
social media has played

Ayesha: a huge role in that because, you know,
back in the early 2000s, late 2000s,

Ayesha: you didn't have social media or people
out in the community with a disability.

Ayesha: So, and now it's a NDIS made the news, you know,

Ayesha: and then you've got people
with disabilities out in the community,

Ayesha: running their own businesses or,

Ayesha: running their own
social media accounts, which is great.

Ellie: Ellie: Tell me about your role at APM.

Ellie: What does that involve exactly?

Ayesha: Ayesha: So it's two facets of community
capacity building.

Ayesha: So one is creating projects

Ayesha: in the community to help build

Ayesha: people skills and experience
that have a disability.

Ayesha: And then the other part
is going to local governments

Ayesha: and making

Ayesha: them be more accessible and inclusive,

Ayesha: and making sure
that they can understand about disability,

Ayesha: but also NDIS.
Ellie: Ellie: Yeah.

Ellie: So is that more policy
or is that making the actual

Ellie: government organisations
more accessible internally?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Internally.

Ayesha: But also, just changing their attitudes
and the way that they think about,

Ayesha: disability, kind of lucky in Mandurah

Ayesha: that the person who’s the
Community Access Inclusion officer, she actually has a disability,

Ayesha: she's in a wheelchair and she,
she gets it, but she contacts

Ayesha: me and, like, “how can we make this
event more accessible?”

Ayesha: And the biggest one was, last year,

Ayesha: this big, huge event called Crab Fest.

Ayesha: And it's probably the biggest festival
that Mandurah has.

Ayesha: And I was able to help the whole events
team for the City of Mandurah

Ayesha: make their event more inclusive.

Ayesha: You know, there was about four of us
all lived experience with disability.

Ayesha: I think that was the great,

Ayesha: take that they listened to actual people
with disabilities.

Ellie: Ellie: If we look at, businesses who want to
employ someone with a visual impairment,

Ellie: what advice would you give to a business

Ellie: that wants to support people with vision
impairments who are either working there,

Ellie: or maybe you want to engage someone
with a vision impairment to work there?

Ayesha: Ayesha: Don't be scared of employing someone
with vision impairment or disability.

Ayesha: Look at their skills
and try and accommodate or arrange,

Ayesha: ways that the person can
still do their job,

Ayesha: and not, you know, give them a task
that they can't actually achieve.

Ayesha: So someone who's completely blind, you know,
you don't want them to create a visual pin up board.

Ellie: Ellie: And also if they're wearing
different shoes, just go with it.

Ellie: Well we really do want to thank you so
much for coming in today.

Ellie: I have learned so much about
vision impairments

Ellie: and I know that the rest of the world is also
going to learn so much from this video,

Ellie: so I really appreciate your time
and your insights today.

Ellie: I really do appreciate
you coming in.

Ayesha: Ayesha: Thank you.