Something kept coming up on job ads that frustrated university student Layla Clarkson Eather: “must have a valid driver's license”.
For someone legally blind from birth, a driver’s license would never be on the cards for her. Did that mean she also couldn’t work?
She knew she could do the job without needing to drive herself, whether it be catching public transport or using ride share services.
Layla now hopes to change job requirements from the inside, studying a Bachelor of Business with a speciality in Human Resources from Deakin University.
She hopes to advocate for people like herself, and make job ads more inclusive so people can show their worth and not get rejected out of a technicality.
Layla received the 2021 Vision Australia Further Education Bursary to help her studies.
“The bursary helped me get equipment that worked for me, like a laptop and a braille display,” she said.
“With the laptop, it’s been really nice not being confined to my bedroom, and being able to use the screen reader I prefer.”
Currently in the process of learning grade two braille, the braille display has been a useful gadget in practicing her contractions.
The 24-year-old hopes once she is finished her degree she can enter the disability and advocacy industry to help others like her achieve meaningful employment.
“I’d like to challenge the stigma particularly around blindness and low vision to encourage people like us to gain employment and for employers to know that they can trust us and know that we are loyal and be able to maintain employment,” she said.
Watch this space.
Since 1996, the Vision Australia Further Education Bursary program has supported more than 450 students who are blind or have low vision to succeed in their studies. Find out more about the program at visionaustralia.org.