The Disability Trust and WorkAbility together with some of their participants have had their efforts recognised at the Annual Bega Chamber of Commerce Customer Service Awards. More than 350 businesses were represented at the awards night, which took place at Bega Showground Pavilion on the 28th February.
Kaitlyn Blacker and her colleagues at Coles Supermarket won an Award for Excellent Customer Service. Katelyn has been supported by WorkAbility in her role at Coles for over 10 years, helping to negotiate the design of her job around her strengths and support her to succeed at work. Katelyn “owns” two aisles and is responsible for stock rotation in her aisles.
Also recognised were Nic Sticotti and his colleagues at Tarra Motors, who were Highly Commended for Diversity and Inclusion. Nic works at Tarra Motors, cleaning cars. Three years ago, WorkAbility negotiated this job for Nic and trained him to meet his employer’s standards. Nic has now become independent of our service, thanks to Tarra Motors’ strong support and commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The Disability Trust and WorkAbility received the Diversity and Inclusion Award on the night, in recognition of their efforts supporting local employers to build diverse and inclusive work teams. In accepting the award, Workability Employment Services Manager David Grealy quoted Dylan Alcott, Australian of the Year.
“Dylan asks us to challenge our unconscious bias, to lift our expectations of what we think people with disability can do.
He said, “It’s always more than you think.”
“People with disability are ready to work, and their participation in the workforce will enrich the lives of all of us”.
