If you are across Administration Assistant, Brandon Cheng’s journey to mainstream employment, you would already know that Brandon is an unstoppable force who already has many impressive accomplishments under his belt. Now he can add one more: advocating for himself and people with disability at Parliament House in Canberra.
Brandon was part of a delegation that we led as a self-advocate. The group, called Employment Futures Forum delegation, included representatives from disability social enterprises: Bedford, Wallara, Good Sammy, Flagstaff, Greenacres, National Disability Services, and Our Voice Australia. Together, we represented WA, SA, NSW, VIC and QLD.
The purpose of our visit was to speak about a proposal to increase wages for employees with disability. Brandon, who captivates the people in any room, including those in Parliament House, proudly shared his perspective as someone with lived experience of disability.
“I answered some pretty tricky questions when I was talking to politicians,” Brandon said.
“But, I really enjoyed voicing my thoughts about employment futures and wages for employees who are supported across Australia, who are on such low wages.
“I would like to go to voice this again. I think this issue needs to be voiced a lot more.”
Brandon also encourages other people with disability to share their story, particularly those who have transitioned to mainstream employment.
“I don’t think the politicians have ever heard the story of someone who has been through supported to mainstream employment – so it was very different for them to hear from me.
I enjoyed voicing a success story, for employees who want to go from supported to mainstream employment. But if they don’t want to go from supported to mainstream employment, that’s fine too. We all have our choices where we go in life.
“I would encourage more people to speak up about their paths of employment, whatever they may be.”
Brandon exuded confidence during his visit, even approaching certain politicians and asking them for a photo.
“It was unexpected that I got a photo with Scomo and with Albo! It was out of the blue.”
That’s one for the memory books! Well done Brandon 😊. You are a superstar.
If you support someone who would like to share their journey in their path of employment – whether that be in our disability social enterprises or their transition to mainstream employment – please contact [email protected] with more information.
Our Communications and Engagement team will be in touch.
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