April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, recognising and celebrating the rights of people on the autism spectrum. It’s also a day to highlight the need to help improve the quality of life of people with autism so they can lead full and meaningful lives – including finding and maintaining paid employment.
Cody, aged 23, is one step closer to realising his dream of working in the I.T industry thanks to VMCH’s Employment Pathways program.
For the past eight months, Cody has worked at Puckapunyal Australian Defence Force base with hospitality contractor Ventia, supporting kitchen staff with meal prep and service.
“Working with others is definitely a good experience and has helped me build skills. Eventually I’d like to work in computers. This is helping me find the confidence to do it.”
Cody is one of seven VMCH clients currently working at Puckapunyal through Ventia, and resource management contractor Veolia.
VMCH Senior Manager Group Programs and Employment Harley Dalgleish says the organisation, which also runs its own social enterprise businesses, has set itself a target to support 100 people with a disability to find and sustain meaningful employment by 2025.
“By normalising the employment of people with disability in a range of roles and industries, we reduce the anxiety of businesses to embrace this fantastic opportunity.”
Tammy Steve, Operations Manager at Ventia, says the partnership with VMCH made the process of employing people with disability an easy one.
Tammy added the benefits of employing people with disability also extended to fellow employees.
“I’ve seen great personal growth in my team, as well as the people we employ through VMCH,” she says.
“When Cody first arrived, he was very shy and found it hard to interact. To see him now; laughing, smiling and confident, is amazing. That’s also thanks to our Army client, whose staff are great at relationship building and bringing out the best in people.”
For more information on VMCH’s Employment Pathways program, head to the Job Skills page.