{"id":1505,"date":"2022-05-17T10:03:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T00:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2022-05-17T10:03:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T00:03:33","slug":"vision-for-an-inclusive-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/2022\/05\/17\/vision-for-an-inclusive-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Vision for an inclusive Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Employment Ambassador Charlotte Bailey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Charlotte Bailey, I am 21 years old, and I am from Canberra, Australia. I work for the ACT Down Syndrome Association as an office assistant and for Down Syndrome Australia as the ACT Employment Ambassador. I also work in the bistro at the Eastlakes Football Club.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My vision for Australia over the next 20 years is that my country becomes more inclusive for people with disabilities.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is how we can do that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would like more employment opportunities for people with disabilities. As a person with Down syndrome, I want to go to work each day and work hard to do a good job. I want to earn money that will support me to live in the community like everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also need more support in learning and training so that we can build skills that will help us be successful in a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I work in hospitality and also in an office. I have been trained to make coffees and to serve people at the same time. I have also learned to answer phones, use a photocopier and scanner, type documents and many other things in a busy office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working is important to me because I like to work with other people and make new connections. I like the environment that I work in at both jobs. I like learning new tasks and I feel proud when I learn something new that I can do independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to work so I can earn money so I can save for special trips or special clothes, or to go out with friends and family. That is very important to me because without work, I don\u2019t have money so I can\u2019t socialise like everyone else. You need money to be able to go out and be part of the community, even just to buy a bus pass! If I didn\u2019t have a job, I would have nowhere to go and nothing to do or see or learn. What would life be like if I was just sitting at home all day, every day. I would never experience new things and meet new people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would be terrible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to see people helping employers to understand that they can hire people with a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employing someone with a disability in a meaningful job can make their dreams come true.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We need to make sure people with disabilities have access to social activities like everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having friends and being social makes me feel like I am an important member of the community. Having the opportunity to be social also helps with mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having Down syndrome doesn\u2019t hold me back! I can achieve anything I want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is my vision for an inclusive Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full article is available in the following formats to download:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PDF<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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WORD<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employment Ambassador Charlotte Bailey shares her vision for a more inclusive society for people with intellectual disability. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"868,850,1403,795,991,801","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,32,15,9,26,21,19,28,116,144,46,117],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-act","tag-advocacy","tag-disability","tag-down-syndrome","tag-employment","tag-inclusion","tag-independence","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-job","tag-right-to-work","tag-self-advocacy","tag-skills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1508,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions\/1508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/voice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}