Satisfied Customer visits JobAccess Team

Human Rights and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes AM took time from his busy schedule to visit the JobAccess Team in Perth today.

JobAccess is a one stop shop for employers and people with disabilities providing practical help and financial incentives for the employment of people with disabilities.

JobAccess is primarily an advisory service run by WorkFocus Australia for the Australian Government. A team of qualified health professionals provide advice to employers on not only managing various disabilities in the workplace, but also on the financial and workplace modification incentives available.

JobAccess recently provided Graeme with a Global Positioning System (GPS) through the Workplace Modifications Scheme to assist him with navigating around his many meetings and presentations in cities around the world. The GPS is relatively new technology and in Graeme’s case where he travels frequently in large cities, taxi drivers and strangers can’t always be relied on to give accurate directions to specific venues so the GPS assists with more accurate data so that he is able to get to where he needs to go, on time and without getting lost.

Graeme is a Lawyer, Mediator and Company Director and has been a Human Rights Practitioner at a state and national level for 25 years and has been active in the disability field for 30 years. He has also been a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations developing a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and was the Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia for 4½ years.

Graeme was the first blind President of Royal Blind Society of NSW and the first Chair of Vision Australia; Australia's largest national blindness agency.

According to Graeme “the advisors at JobAccess determined that a personal GPS would be of great benefit to me, and this was provided within seven days of my application under the Workplace Modifications Scheme. The GPS has certainly enabled me to be even more independent in my busy work life.”

During his visit, Graeme demonstrated to the team how he used the GPS unit connected via Bluetooth technology to his BrailleNote Notetaker computer to not only assist him to navigate from venue to venue but to access everyday facilities that sighted people take for granted. Using voice-enabled software, Graeme can now locate company offices and public transport facilities without the assistance of others.

Graeme thanked the JobAccess team for the assistance provided to him and on behalf of the many other people with disabilities and their employers who have been assisted since the inception of JobAccess in 2006.

The JobAccess website has information about the full range of Australian Government services for the employment of people with a disability. It also has step-by-step guides on recruitment, job searching, adjusting a workplace, understanding rights and responsibilities at work, disability information and more.

Visit JobAccess at www.jobaccess.gov.au, or contact the helpful JobAccess Advisers free of charge on 1800 464 800.