Duncan Meerding
While blindness and low-vision services are quite advanced in Australia, many people with a visual impairment are out of work. Often this is due to a boss's dogmatic belief that people with a visual impairment cannot work as effectively as the next person. But there is also the outright discrimination against people with a visual impairment or who are blind.
Bernard Hemmings spoke to Green Left Weekly about his experience applying for work at City Bank in mid-2001. "My case officer was so happy when I had the position. I asked her whether she told them I used a guide dog, and she replied that she had, and that they had informed her it would not be a problem." Subsequently, City Bank called Hemmings, firstly to ask a few questions about his guide dog and then to inform him that the position would not be filled for another six months, and that he could reapply then.
A few days later Hemmings was informed by his employment agency that the second person on the short list had been given the job.
Three weeks later, Hemmings applied for a job with AMP where similar events took place. "You can take being knocked back, even being told you are not good enough and, like others, you move on to the next job application. Even when employers don't answer my resumes, that's not a problem. You expect this when looking for work. But to be given a definite start date and then have the employer pull out at the last possible moment simply because of concerns about where the dog will relieve itself just hurts too much."
Hemmings explained that his blind brother, also a guide-dog user, who has a few diplomas and a university degree has faced similar discrimination.
Former Blind Citizens of Australia vice-president Dr Theresa Smith in a December 2002 article, "Diversity and disability: exploring the experiences of vision impaired people in the workplace", cited a 1996 study that showed that the employment rate of people of working age with blindness or a visual impairment (between 20-65 for males and 20-60 for females) was 21%. She said that the rate for guide dog users is proportionally lower.
The federal government's misnamed Work Choices legislation will affect every working person, but those with a disability will be harder hit. We all have a duty to resist this legislation and the added discrimination that comes with it. Whether you are in employment or not, make sure you go to your local June 28 protest against Howard's anti-worker laws.
[Duncan Meerding is a visually impaired activist in the Socialist Alliance in Hobart.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 3, 2006.
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