Graeme Innes’ employer wasn’t convinced that as a blind person, Innes could work as a lawyer. Changing that employer’s mind changed Innes’ life.
Further to his law degree, Innes has risen to serve as Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner and is now the chair of the Attitude Foundation, which strives for the inclusion of people with disabilities in society through storytelling.
For more on this topic, a panel of experts will be speaking on ‘Inclusion and diversity: what’s next?’ at the AHRI National Convention in August. Find out more.
Innes is a patron of the Graeme Innes AM Award for Disability Employment, which is part of the AHRI Awards program. Innes spoke at the AHRI Inclusion and Diversity Conference in Sydney on 18 May 2015.
How can I attract people with disabilities to my workplace?
Is the best way to include a diversity statement in my recruitment material? or are there other ways I can actively reach out to disabled workers and let them know that they will be equally considered at this place of work?
I complement Graeme on his positive attitude as Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner. I have a daughter who is blind and know quite a few disabled people who are all struggling to find work. I totally agree with Graeme that it is a perceived that disabled people are unable to cope with working situations. Watching the people I know I am amazed at how efficient they are and might be because I am from an older generation but their computer skills are remarkable putting me to shame most of the time.
As much as Australia has a lot going for it, unfortunately as a developed nation we have an appalling record for employing people with disabilities. The unconscious bias of recruiters and the “blindness” of managers to what people with disabilities can do and the general belief that because somebody has a disability in one function they cannot have extraordinary abilities in other attributes. Too often the thought process is something like: Graeme Innes could not be a good lawyer… he is blind; or Stevie Wonder cannot be a great singer and musician… he is blind. Similar bias by too businesses… Read more »
[…] It’s not that organisations don’t want to employ people with disabilities. Many would like to be more inclusive, but are daunted and don’t know where to start. […]