After successfully completing a Graduate Diploma in Public Relations, Kate Begley joined Vision Australia as a communications assistant on a part-time, volunteer basis. When Kate successfully applied for our Career Start Graduate Program her career began to take off and she now works with us as a Policy Advisor, advocating for the blindness and low vision community.
Kate takes us through her recent four-year employment journey starting as a mature-aged university student to where she is today.
Life at university
Education is not necessarily the key to success as high school dropout Paul Keating, among many other successful dropouts, can testify. However, as someone with a disability I knew that an education qualification would vastly increase my opportunities for meaningful employment, financial stability and greater social inclusion.
Vision loss at the age of 24 had changed the course of my life. The undergraduate degree in film and television that I had completed when I was fully sighted was no longer of much use to me.
After raising my two young children it was time to get back into the workforce. I had always been interested in communications and was accepted to study a Graduate Diploma in Public Relations. Once the excitement of getting into my course had dissipated I began to worry about the logistics of studying as a person with low vision.
Almost the first thing the university’s Disability Liaison Unit officer did was recommend that I apply for a Further Education Bursary from Vision Australia. The idea that I could be awarded adaptive technology to support me in my studies gave me a huge sense of relief and made the two years of study ahead feel achievable. The Bursary grant assisted me greatly and I completed my course, averaging high distinctions.
From volunteer to employee
One of my university assignments required me to work on a real-life public relations case study. I approached Vision Australia for this assignment as I was interested in issues related to living with vision loss.
When I met Rebecca from Vision Australia’s Communications team to discuss my assignment, she suggested volunteering with them when I graduated to help me grow my hands-on experience.
About a month after graduating I took Rebecca up on her advice and joined the communications team as a part-time volunteer. Sometimes I would work one or two days a week and if it was busy I would add on an extra day.
Volunteering was a great way for me to make my way back into the workforce. What you’re not earning, you’re learning.
I had been out of the workforce for a number of years and office life had changed so much. Stepping back into the office environment enabled me to build my technical public relations skills and put into practice the theory I had learnt on my course. I also developed soft skills such as how to build working relationships with clients and staff and the finer points of email etiquette. Not only did I have to reacquaint myself with these office survival skills again I also had to get used to working in a large organisation.
While I was volunteering, Vision Australia launched its graduate program. I realised that getting a spot on the program would not only be a good opportunity to kick-start my career in my chosen field but I would be paid for twelve months.
I was so excited when I found out I had secured one of two spots on the program and moved ‘more permanently’ into the Communications team. During this time I was given responsibility to lead large-scale public relations programs and worked on projects designed to broaden my skills for future job opportunities.
The career that I had studied for was taking off. Then it took a slight detour in a different direction, but a very positive one.
Making a difference through policy
With my twelve months on the program drawing to a close I began to cast my eye around at various jobs outside of Vision Australia when a vacancy became available within the Government Relations and Advocacy team.
I felt a move to a policy type position would be the right one for me. I have the lived experience of blindness so understand the challenges people face and am interested in advocating for the rights of people like me. I wanted to work on the big and complicated issues where we could make change happen.
Many of the skills that I had developed over the previous 12-18 months stood me in good stead for securing this role. I understood the inner workings of Vision Australia and as a member of the blindness and low vision community, what mattered to people. I had also refined my research and writing skills and was confident presenting in public, something I did on a number of occasions as part of the Graduate Program.
One of the highlights of my new job was when I presented on behalf of Vision Australia to members of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee at their Parliamentary Inquiry into Ride Sourcing Services in Victoria.
Equal access to all public transport is of vital importance to our community so it was a great privilege to present Vision Australia’s position on this issue. I was also able to make a case, from my lived experience perspective, that equal access to ride sourcing services (like Uber) would have a huge positive impact on my life as someone with low vision who is a sole parent of two children.
The future
At Vision Australia I am lucky to work with great people and on issues that can have a positive impact on someone’s life.
The last four years have shown me that careers can take unexpected and exciting turns. That sometimes they have a life of their own. I hope my career will continue to take various different paths as the years proceed and most of all I hope I can always work at something that makes society a better place for everyone.