JobAccess' 100 000th Enquiry Milestone

On Tuesday 27 September 2011, the JobAccess service marked the achievement of responding to 100 000 enquiries about employment of people with disability.

The Minister for Employment Participation, Kate Ellis congratulated the service provider, WorkFocus Australia, and met with people with disability and employers who have used the service to improve access to work and work productivity.

Ms Ellis said that the number of people using JobAccess shows that people with disability want to work, and that employers are being helped with the costs of modifying workplaces and purchasing special equipment.

One employee spoke about the assistance she received from JobAccess. Lauren uses the screen reader software program, JAWS to read the information on screen, to write reports and emails and to read document and complete research.

Lauren also uses Omnipage, which works in conjunction with a scanner, enabling her to scan printed material and convert it to a Word document.

Lauren's most valued piece of equipment is the BrailleNote Apex which she uses for note taking and reading.

JobAccess understands that many employers and managers do not fully understand what assistance is needed for some people with disability. The JobAccess advisory service welcomes enquiries from managers and employers who want to know more about how they can make their recruitment and workplaces more accessible and supportive.

JobAccess was created following recommendations from the 2006 Australian Human Rights Commission Report into Employment and Disability, to provide a single point of access to information about the employment of people with disability, making it easier for employers, people with disability, their families and service providers to understand what services are available.

 

This story can be viewed in the news section of the JobAccess website