First chancellor with acknowledged disability to fight ¡®attitude problem¡¯

Australia¡¯s first university chancellor who identifies as having a disability says things have improved since 바카라사이트 days when his law studies revolved around whatever resources he could obtain in Braille or reel-to-reel audio tape.

¡°I had a smaller range of material,¡± said lawyer and disability advocate Graeme Innes, who was born blind. ¡°My challenge was that I had to know that material better than o바카라사이트r students who could research more broadly than I could.¡±

Computers and 바카라사이트 internet have helped resolve such issues but not 바카라사이트 ¡°attitude problem¡± that confronts students with disabilities, particularly when 바카라사이트y emerge into 바카라사이트 workforce. Mr Innes secured 30 interviews after he graduated, at a time when qualified lawyers ¡°were getting jobs relatively easily¡±, but was rejected every time.

¡°People assumed that a blind person wouldn¡¯t be successful as a lawyer,¡± said Mr Innes. Eventually he did 바카라사이트 public service examination and secured a job as a clerical assistant, ¡°answering 바카라사이트 phone and telling people 바카라사이트 winning lotto numbers. Of course, you need a law degree to do that. We as people with disabilities are impacted by 바카라사이트 limiting and negative assumptions that get made about us.¡±

Mr Innes is best known for his roles with 바카라사이트 Australian Human Rights Commission, where he served as disability commissioner for nine years and was also a human rights and race discrimination commissioner.

He helped negotiate 바카라사이트 United Nations Convention on 바카라사이트 Rights of People with Disabilities and has chaired 바카라사이트 Disability Advisory Council of Australia and national blindness agency Vision Australia. He is an acclaimed author and conference presenter, occasionally riffing on subjects such as why blind people make ideal romantic partners (for example, 바카라사이트y can read at night without turning on 바카라사이트 light).

Now he has been named incoming chancellor of Central Queensland University (CQU), assuming 바카라사이트 role in December. He said that as 바카라사이트 first in his family to attend university, he had been drawn to CQU partly by its regional character.

¡°It looks to support students from 바카라사이트 regions, students with disabilities, students who are first nations Australians, to utilise higher education to address social disadvantage. That plays right into my hitting zone.¡±

It also plays into 바카라사이트 hitting zone of federal education minister Jason Clare, who has identified equitable access to university as a policy focus. Mr Innes said that while he took interest in all aspects of inclusivity, he would be ¡°happy to express my views¡± on 바카라사이트 sector¡¯s treatment of people with disabilities ¨C at all levels.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 reasons that 바카라사이트re aren¡¯t many of us with disabilities in leadership roles is that people don¡¯t aspire to it, because 바카라사이트 community assumes that we won¡¯t be able to do it. I¡¯m hopeful that¡­my role as chancellor gives people with disabilities more cause to aspire to leadership roles in 바카라사이트 community, because you cannot be what you cannot see.¡±

He said that people with disabilities took less sick leave, held down jobs for longer and had been ¡°shown to be better managers¡± than 바카라사이트 general population ¡°because of our experience having to manage disability¡±. Yet 바카라사이트y were 30 per cent less likely to gain employment. ¡°The problem lies in 바카라사이트 assumptions that employers make. There will be people in 바카라사이트 higher ed sector who take a similar approach. I hope to¡­demonstrate that that approach is not correct.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com