Karen Knight, General Manager, Vision Australia Queensland has welcomed new funding from the Queensland Government’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative.
The initiative will provide training and paid work placements to assist people from the blindness and low vision community to improve their chances of long-term employment.
Earlier this year, the Australia Bureau of Statistics released the Disability and Labour Force Participation, 2012 report. Although improvements have been made to anti-discrimination legislation, the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers data show that people with disability are still less likely to be participating in the labour force than other Australians. In 1993 the participation rate for people with disability aged 15-64 years was nearly 55%, but in 2012 it had declined to under 53%.
“Employment, particularly for a person with disability, is integral to maximising the opportunities for their participation in all aspects of life, including economic security, personal fulfilment and social interaction,” says Karen.
"Vision Australia has a proven record of running similar ‘training for employment outcomes’ initiatives such as the highly successful Stepping Forward project. We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to offer new placements through this reintroduction of the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program.
“Last year we spent over 14,000 hours supporting people with employment-related issues to improve our community’s involvement in the workforce. Funding like this, supports Vision Australia to support people to get their foot in the door.”
For out more about how we support job-seekers by visiting our Employment assistance section.