May 19, 2022 • 18 mins
Crime and Research: The Isabella Allen Story.
Isabella Allen, Project Support Officer at Queensland Health talks about her degree in Criminology and her current work as a Project Support Officer, including her work adjustments and working with a dog guide.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome to the Career Path. A recent report
from Sweeney and Vision Australia revealed that 83% of employers
surveyed lacked confidence in hiring someone with a vision impairment.
With this podcast, we hope to delve further into this
issue by speaking to job seekers, employers and employees to
hear their perspectives. This podcast is made possible with the
(00:38):
support of Vision Australia and the NDIS Information Linkages and
Capacity Building grant. A huge thanks to all of you
who submitted input into this podcast and all of those involved.
Each episode will be available to download as a podcast.
Just go to Vision Australia org and type the career
path into the search engine to find our webpage where
(01:00):
you can listen to other episodes and subscribe to make
sure that you don't miss any. I'm your host, Belinda Wilson.
Today we are speaking with Isabella Allen, Project Support Officer
at Queensland Health. Thank you so much for joining us today.
S2 (01:14):
No problem. My pleasure.
S1 (01:16):
Isabella, you studied criminology in university. For those of us
who are not familiar, apart from maybe CSI, what is criminology?
S2 (01:25):
So criminology is a form of sociology. It's a combination
of law and social work. Essentially, you learn about how
society ticks and what will potentially form a criminal or not.
S1 (01:40):
Oh, it sounds like an interesting field. It seems a
lot of those type of things are in TV and news,
but I don't actually know that much about it in
real life because it's all kind of glamorized, like chasing
down serial killers rather than the study of people.
S2 (01:55):
Yeah, there's no chasing serial killers. But yeah, it is.
It's fully the study of people is exactly what it is.
S1 (02:01):
So as a legally blind person, what sort of challenges
did you face in obtaining your degree?
S2 (02:06):
Well, most of the way through the uni I went
to was pretty supportive. They were pretty amazing. I did
have a couple of subjects that were a little bit visual.
One of them particularly criminal profiling. So that's where you
learn what someone might look like or might sound like,
where they might move, what they might do. But it
was actually interesting because aside from a couple of graphs
(02:28):
that I had to get quite tactile with, everything else
was actually able to be transferred quite, quite well. So
it was a little bit of a struggle, but I
did a lot of working with the university. It was
all an open conversation about how we're actually going to
do this. There was another subject I did too, which
was about environment, built environment and what the environment should
(02:48):
look like to try and minimise crime or promote nice
living spaces and, you know, people being happy and and
wanting to look after the area. But again, people were
very good at describing everything for me and it was
all about having a good conversation, you know, actually talking
to each other. And the uni was quite good at
helping me get through. So yeah, I actually did pretty
(03:10):
well in those subjects, which surprised me. That was really
all it was for me. Was actually working with the
uni and going, Hi, this is me, can you help me?
S1 (03:19):
And so what university did you study at?
S2 (03:22):
I went to Bond University. They were pretty amazing to
study through. They were very, very hands on. There was
a lot of physical class and it was really good
for me and that was my first degree and I'm
actually doing a second degree at the moment, which is law,
which I'm actually doing through Usk, which is the University
of Southern Queensland. They're actually a distance education uni. They
(03:45):
do have physical campuses, but they specialise in distance head.
And again, they've been really, really supportive and really great
getting materials and, you know, helping me through.
S1 (03:54):
After you completed your first degree, you spent some time volunteering.
How did volunteering help you on your path to employment?
S2 (04:01):
Basically, I had a lot of trouble doing job seeking.
I finished my degree and I spent about six months
actually looking for work and I was getting absolutely nowhere,
putting in like 50 applications a day. The job place
I was working through Epic was like, Why don't we
try with volunteering? So I did some volunteering for a while.
I got two positions, actually, one through the YMCA, working
(04:27):
as a youth mentor in their youth program. They have
like a school in North Lakes. So I went and
helped out there as news mentor. That was basically social work.
You worked with youths to have conversations with them, talk
to them, you know, help them with with schooling and
preparing for life and yeah, basically making sure that they
(04:47):
were happy and doing well in school. I also did
a position with the Red Cross doing tele link, so
talking to old people, ringing them and making sure that
they were, you know, actually getting to talk to somebody,
keeping them socially connected. It was all about social connectedness.
And then those positions actually led me into some actual jobs.
(05:08):
So then I got a job with the Gold Coast
University Hospital. So yeah, volunteering was really, really good for me.
S1 (05:14):
It sounds like you did. Both sides of the spectrum.
You had the youth and then you had the older
age as well. So you had a big range there
to build up your experience.
S2 (05:22):
I did, yeah. And I had physical social work and
over the phone, social work and the physical one, the
youth and touring, it was really great. That actually just
got someone who was running the program who was younger,
you know, a similar age to me, and she was
really happy. She's like, Yeah, let's give this a go.
Let's actually put you through the Youth Mentor program. And
you know, because you've got the degree, you have the skills.
So yeah, she was like, you know, you're blind, but
(05:44):
we'll give it a go. I really don't have very
much vision at all. I'm mostly blind. I rely on
screen readers. So working with children out in the environment
obviously is quite scary to some employers. Um, well, youths,
you know, there's, there were 14 to 17.5 year olds, so, um, yeah,
(06:05):
but no, they were willing to give it a go.
S1 (06:07):
That sounds so amazing that someone said, Yeah, let's just
give it a shot and let's just go for it. Yeah.
Did you have any really great experiences from the YMCA?
S3 (06:15):
Yeah, well.
S2 (06:16):
We got to do some really fun stuff with the kids.
We did things like we built a butterfly garden together
and we did like some talking about some resumes they
were building. So yeah, it was a really good experience.
I actually went through two rounds with them, so yeah,
I stuck with it for a little bit. It was amazing.
I really recommend volunteering if you're having trouble getting a job,
(06:36):
you know, really helps you get out there and build
your resume and get people to give you a go
because it's about actually just getting your foot in the
door and having someone who will vouch for you. He'll go, Yeah,
they're not so scary. They can do what they say
they can do.
S1 (06:50):
So what sort of obstacles did you face when you
were job seeking? You said that you were sending out
hundreds of applications. What sort of barriers did you face?
S2 (06:58):
The main one in my field is it's quite a
broad field. You can do anything from working in a
prison to working social work in the community with youths.
You know, it's really quite broad. Most of the jobs,
they would be very visually focused and so they would
require things like driver's licenses, which even though I'd put
my application through, I'd get as far as the interview
(07:19):
and they talk to me and then they'd realize I
was blind and they'd go, Oh, so you don't have
a driver's license? I'd be like, No. And they would
use that like as a way of getting rid of me, essentially,
because they were just too scared, you know, it was
just too scary or a concept to go, Oh, you know,
even though they can't see, they can still do this job.
So you're actually getting over that hurdle of, you know,
(07:39):
she can't see. It's really quite a scary prospect, particularly
in that field where you're very hands on. If something
goes wrong, it would really, really go wrong.
S1 (07:48):
So most of the obstacles were when you were face
to face with the interviewer.
S2 (07:51):
Yeah, yeah. Or over the phone with them. Yeah. So
like I'd get as far as the interview and then
they'd go, Yeah, no, we're not going to, not going
to hire you. And as I said, sometimes I knew like,
you know, based on my skills that some of the
jobs I was applying for even slightly lower level and
what I was capable of. But yeah, they were very
scared that I don't know, I was this blind person.
(08:15):
So yeah, the volunteer thing then allowed me to actually
build my resume and show people and go, Well, I
can do stuff. I'm not so scary. And just that, yeah,
then allowed me to actually get my foot in the
door at Gold Coast University Hospital and actually get a role.
And basically it was, it was people who were willing
to actually work with me. Like I found some people
(08:37):
who were willing to actually bank on me. And so
that then allowed me just to continue like so I
did volunteering straight into job and then just held that
job for a while and then moved positions within the
same organization. But so a slightly different employer. But there
was no interview process, even just within the organization. It
was about that conversation of going, Well, hi, here I am,
(09:00):
I can do this work. I am blind, but I
can still do exactly what everybody else can do.
S1 (09:05):
So what was that initial interview like? How was it
different from all the other interviews?
S2 (09:10):
Because I was going through a job agency. They actually
had kind of warmed the lead a little bit for me.
They'd spoken ahead of time to the hospital and gone, Hi,
you know, we've got a heap of applicants. Will you
take any? And they went, Well, we'll consider them, but
you know, we'll put them through a normal application process.
Here's the link. Go, go do. So I had to
go through the whole government website and do a full
(09:32):
three page application answering questions that they ask you and
then provide your resume. It's quite a large written process.
And then if they then like you, they'll then bring
you in for an interview, which they did for me,
and they were actually really supportive because they knew that
I couldn't see. They actually came to me and asked me.
They were like, What can we do to help you
(09:53):
in the interview? So they were actually really, really supportive.
I was like, Well, I just will need the questions
that you're going to ask because they did a little, um,
like a role play of, you know, if this happens,
how would you deal with it? So I was like, Well,
I just need the scenario sent to me by email
so that I can actually read it and answer it.
So yeah, it was, it was pretty good, but it
was just a normal, like, scary interview, you know, three
(10:14):
people panel. Sitting on one side of the table and
you're sitting on the other. So it wasn't really very
much of a different interview. I walked in at the time.
I had a white cane and I walked in and
it was kind of daunting, but I got through it
and they decided that, yeah, actually was as good as
I said I was and actually better than some of
the other people they interviewed. So yeah, I got the job.
S1 (10:36):
So in the end, the only difference between that interview
and the other interview was literally you being sent a question. Yeah.
S2 (10:44):
And being able to answer it and also then being
open to the process, to them actually being accepting of
the disability.
S1 (10:51):
So you're currently working as a project support officer at
Queensland Health. Could you share with us what your job entails?
S2 (10:58):
I'm a policy officer, so answer people's questions. They'll ring me,
I might answer them, I might have to talk to
other people in the office first and then compile an
answer and write back to them. Or sometimes we'll do
some research. So that's where some of my criminology degree
comes in, because I learned about how to do research.
So we'll do some research on a particular topic, like,
(11:19):
for example, artificial intelligence and how it interacts with data,
that kind of thing, and then go, okay, well, you know,
we need to put this in the context of access
to information, go and research all of that. Put together
a little brief of, you know, this is all of
everything I found. This is what I think the policy
should be. And then I provide it to my superiors
(11:39):
and I finish writing it. Then off it goes. And
we also support as part of the Office 16 Hospital
and Health Services. And in those we've got what's called
research ethics committees. So we support those around the state
in processes to approve or decline research applications to do research.
So it's a pretty varied role. It requires a good
(12:02):
knowledge of draws with a screen reader because you're certainly
doing a lot of word processing and a lot of
Internet searching and good phone skills too.
S1 (12:11):
I know we talked a little bit about the hiring
process and what was like, and you said that you
came in with a white cane. Then after that you
came in with a dog guide. So what was it
like that you had to adjust to working in an
office with a dog guide?
S2 (12:23):
I was lucky in that I was able to actually
prepare them because I knew going in so so my
transition happened as I actually transitioned jobs to. So I
went from working in the Gold Coast University Hospital to
the current role of the project support officer. So I
was moving offices and I knew sometime in the next
six months I was going to get a dog for
(12:44):
the first time. So I actually told them that ahead
of time. It was like, look, sometime in the next
six months there's going to be a dog and I'm
going to need to take leave and I'm going to
have to come back in and everything's going to be different.
We're going to find some space for them. And they
were actually really supportive about that. They made sure that
we had plenty of space between the desks to put
a little bed down and so I could tie him
(13:05):
up there and have him sitting there next to me
during the day. But certainly bringing a dog into the
office is quite like there's no hiding anymore. You know,
a white cane can sometimes be kind of put off
to the side, but, you know, a guide dog standing
right there the whole time. So it's it's a lot
more obvious that, hey, I'm a blind person in this office.
(13:26):
But yeah, it's been amazing. They really, really love him.
They're really excited whenever he comes in and he actually
gets some playtime in the middle of the day. So
I don't make him sit there on his harness for
eight hours. That wouldn't be very nice. So take it off.
And yeah, he gets some pats from my co-workers. He's
really accepted as a member of the team.
S1 (13:47):
What sort of adjustments do you need for your job?
S2 (13:50):
Really? Not a lot, to be honest. Sometimes just a
little bit of extra break time for the dog or
on the computer. I've got a screen reader that runs.
I need a good quality computer and they actually bought
the screen reader Jaws for me, so I didn't even
have to go through it. Job access. I just got
a copy of it, which was really great. And then
I just have my headphones plugged in so the whole
office doesn't have to listen to it speaking all the time.
(14:12):
So you didn't.
S1 (14:12):
Even go through job access. It's not a cheap piece
of equipment that's showing real belief and support in.
S2 (14:18):
You know, it's not it's an expensive piece of software.
They could have gone through job access and we talked
about it and they looked into the forms and they
wound up just buying it for me because they had
the resources to do that. And yeah, obviously saw the
value in me.
S1 (14:32):
Did you do any orientation mobility around the workplace?
S2 (14:35):
I did, yes. Yeah, I did a fair bit of that.
So I actually normally do that before I start my job.
So that's like a prep work. I go like a
week before, you know, I know I'm going to start somewhere,
whether it's uni or work or whatever I'm doing, and
go and get familiar with the area and learn how
to actually get in there.
S1 (14:54):
So what's next for you? You mentioned that you're getting
a degree in law, so what future goals do you have?
S2 (15:00):
Sir, I'm doing that to eventually become a barrister. I'm
quite good at mooting, which is basically a role play
of a courtroom. So quite good at thinking on the
go and talking. So yeah, that's my goal. It's a
long process I've got. To finish this degree, which I've
got five semesters left and then I've got to do
practical legal training. And then from there there's an exam set.
(15:24):
It's a long process. It's going to be difficult. It's
not very many blind barristers. It's this not really a
done thing. So it's going to be an interesting path
for me.
S1 (15:35):
Yeah, but. Right. Would that be to be, you know,
literally a visible person out there, you know, fighting for
other people and also, you know, having your your dog
guide there agreeing with you?
S2 (15:48):
Yeah, it'll be pretty awesome. I love helping people. So
I've gone into the career that I've gone into. Both
degrees are very much about helping people.
S1 (15:56):
You're kind of in this area where you're working and
you're also working towards something and you just had such
a great attitude in the fact that you reached out
to us for this. So what made you fill out
the survey and reach out to us for this?
S2 (16:09):
Well, I saw it and I thought, well, I knew,
you know, in in the blind community, there's a lot
of trouble getting jobs. So I felt like I needed
to share my story and go, Hey, guys, you know,
you can do it. Eventually you'll get a job. Just
keep trying and it will eventually happen for you.
S1 (16:25):
And what advice do you have for the next generation
of job seekers, The people who are in school now
and they're looking for maybe part time jobs and then
looking for a career in the future? What sort of
advice would you have for them? Yeah, I.
S2 (16:36):
Mean, if they can start to get some experience now
while they're in school, you know, that will really help
build their resume. It's about getting the experience, show you're
actually capable of doing what you want to do and
then actually getting somebody who can back you and go, Hey,
please employ this person. So that's where the volunteering really
comes in because then, you know, you can actually show
(16:56):
someone what you're capable of and and they can actually
you can use them as a reference. They can go,
you know, this person's really great, employ them. Also, you know,
if you are applying and you're not getting very far,
just keep applying, you know, check that resume with someone
who can check it for you or, you know, it's
a good resume and then just keep on applying and
eventually you'll you'll get something.
S1 (17:15):
So we just had a lovely time talking to Isabella
Allen about her career journey and her future prospects. Thank
you so much for joining us today, Isabella, as we
walked along the career path. The conversation doesn't have to
stop here. Share this podcast episode on social media and
start a conversation with your friends, family, and followers, or
(17:38):
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path into the search field to find our webpage where
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(17:59):
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Thanks for traveling with us along the career path.
Hello and welcome to the Career Path. A recent report
from Sweeney and Vision Australia revealed that 83% of employers
surveyed lacked confidence in hiring someone with a vision impairment.
With this podcast, we hope to delve further into this
issue by speaking to job seekers, employers and employees to
hear their perspectives. This podcast is made possible with the
(00:38):
support of Vision Australia and the NDIS Information Linkages and
Capacity Building grant. A huge thanks to all of you
who submitted input into this podcast and all of those involved.
Each episode will be available to download as a podcast.
Just go to Vision Australia org and type the career
path into the search engine to find our webpage where
(01:00):
you can listen to other episodes and subscribe to make
sure that you don't miss any. I'm your host, Belinda Wilson.
Today we are speaking with Isabella Allen, Project Support Officer
at Queensland Health. Thank you so much for joining us today.
S2 (01:14):
No problem. My pleasure.
S1 (01:16):
Isabella, you studied criminology in university. For those of us
who are not familiar, apart from maybe CSI, what is criminology?
S2 (01:25):
So criminology is a form of sociology. It's a combination
of law and social work. Essentially, you learn about how
society ticks and what will potentially form a criminal or not.
S1 (01:40):
Oh, it sounds like an interesting field. It seems a
lot of those type of things are in TV and news,
but I don't actually know that much about it in
real life because it's all kind of glamorized, like chasing
down serial killers rather than the study of people.
S2 (01:55):
Yeah, there's no chasing serial killers. But yeah, it is.
It's fully the study of people is exactly what it is.
S1 (02:01):
So as a legally blind person, what sort of challenges
did you face in obtaining your degree?
S2 (02:06):
Well, most of the way through the uni I went
to was pretty supportive. They were pretty amazing. I did
have a couple of subjects that were a little bit visual.
One of them particularly criminal profiling. So that's where you
learn what someone might look like or might sound like,
where they might move, what they might do. But it
was actually interesting because aside from a couple of graphs
(02:28):
that I had to get quite tactile with, everything else
was actually able to be transferred quite, quite well. So
it was a little bit of a struggle, but I
did a lot of working with the university. It was
all an open conversation about how we're actually going to
do this. There was another subject I did too, which
was about environment, built environment and what the environment should
(02:48):
look like to try and minimise crime or promote nice
living spaces and, you know, people being happy and and
wanting to look after the area. But again, people were
very good at describing everything for me and it was
all about having a good conversation, you know, actually talking
to each other. And the uni was quite good at
helping me get through. So yeah, I actually did pretty
(03:10):
well in those subjects, which surprised me. That was really
all it was for me. Was actually working with the
uni and going, Hi, this is me, can you help me?
S1 (03:19):
And so what university did you study at?
S2 (03:22):
I went to Bond University. They were pretty amazing to
study through. They were very, very hands on. There was
a lot of physical class and it was really good
for me and that was my first degree and I'm
actually doing a second degree at the moment, which is law,
which I'm actually doing through Usk, which is the University
of Southern Queensland. They're actually a distance education uni. They
(03:45):
do have physical campuses, but they specialise in distance head.
And again, they've been really, really supportive and really great
getting materials and, you know, helping me through.
S1 (03:54):
After you completed your first degree, you spent some time volunteering.
How did volunteering help you on your path to employment?
S2 (04:01):
Basically, I had a lot of trouble doing job seeking.
I finished my degree and I spent about six months
actually looking for work and I was getting absolutely nowhere,
putting in like 50 applications a day. The job place
I was working through Epic was like, Why don't we
try with volunteering? So I did some volunteering for a while.
I got two positions, actually, one through the YMCA, working
(04:27):
as a youth mentor in their youth program. They have
like a school in North Lakes. So I went and
helped out there as news mentor. That was basically social work.
You worked with youths to have conversations with them, talk
to them, you know, help them with with schooling and
preparing for life and yeah, basically making sure that they
(04:47):
were happy and doing well in school. I also did
a position with the Red Cross doing tele link, so
talking to old people, ringing them and making sure that
they were, you know, actually getting to talk to somebody,
keeping them socially connected. It was all about social connectedness.
And then those positions actually led me into some actual jobs.
(05:08):
So then I got a job with the Gold Coast
University Hospital. So yeah, volunteering was really, really good for me.
S1 (05:14):
It sounds like you did. Both sides of the spectrum.
You had the youth and then you had the older
age as well. So you had a big range there
to build up your experience.
S2 (05:22):
I did, yeah. And I had physical social work and
over the phone, social work and the physical one, the
youth and touring, it was really great. That actually just
got someone who was running the program who was younger,
you know, a similar age to me, and she was
really happy. She's like, Yeah, let's give this a go.
Let's actually put you through the Youth Mentor program. And
you know, because you've got the degree, you have the skills.
So yeah, she was like, you know, you're blind, but
(05:44):
we'll give it a go. I really don't have very
much vision at all. I'm mostly blind. I rely on
screen readers. So working with children out in the environment
obviously is quite scary to some employers. Um, well, youths,
you know, there's, there were 14 to 17.5 year olds, so, um, yeah,
(06:05):
but no, they were willing to give it a go.
S1 (06:07):
That sounds so amazing that someone said, Yeah, let's just
give it a shot and let's just go for it. Yeah.
Did you have any really great experiences from the YMCA?
S3 (06:15):
Yeah, well.
S2 (06:16):
We got to do some really fun stuff with the kids.
We did things like we built a butterfly garden together
and we did like some talking about some resumes they
were building. So yeah, it was a really good experience.
I actually went through two rounds with them, so yeah,
I stuck with it for a little bit. It was amazing.
I really recommend volunteering if you're having trouble getting a job,
(06:36):
you know, really helps you get out there and build
your resume and get people to give you a go
because it's about actually just getting your foot in the
door and having someone who will vouch for you. He'll go, Yeah,
they're not so scary. They can do what they say
they can do.
S1 (06:50):
So what sort of obstacles did you face when you
were job seeking? You said that you were sending out
hundreds of applications. What sort of barriers did you face?
S2 (06:58):
The main one in my field is it's quite a
broad field. You can do anything from working in a
prison to working social work in the community with youths.
You know, it's really quite broad. Most of the jobs,
they would be very visually focused and so they would
require things like driver's licenses, which even though I'd put
my application through, I'd get as far as the interview
(07:19):
and they talk to me and then they'd realize I
was blind and they'd go, Oh, so you don't have
a driver's license? I'd be like, No. And they would
use that like as a way of getting rid of me, essentially,
because they were just too scared, you know, it was
just too scary or a concept to go, Oh, you know,
even though they can't see, they can still do this job.
So you're actually getting over that hurdle of, you know,
(07:39):
she can't see. It's really quite a scary prospect, particularly
in that field where you're very hands on. If something
goes wrong, it would really, really go wrong.
S1 (07:48):
So most of the obstacles were when you were face
to face with the interviewer.
S2 (07:51):
Yeah, yeah. Or over the phone with them. Yeah. So
like I'd get as far as the interview and then
they'd go, Yeah, no, we're not going to, not going
to hire you. And as I said, sometimes I knew like,
you know, based on my skills that some of the
jobs I was applying for even slightly lower level and
what I was capable of. But yeah, they were very
scared that I don't know, I was this blind person.
(08:15):
So yeah, the volunteer thing then allowed me to actually
build my resume and show people and go, Well, I
can do stuff. I'm not so scary. And just that, yeah,
then allowed me to actually get my foot in the
door at Gold Coast University Hospital and actually get a role.
And basically it was, it was people who were willing
to actually work with me. Like I found some people
(08:37):
who were willing to actually bank on me. And so
that then allowed me just to continue like so I
did volunteering straight into job and then just held that
job for a while and then moved positions within the
same organization. But so a slightly different employer. But there
was no interview process, even just within the organization. It
was about that conversation of going, Well, hi, here I am,
(09:00):
I can do this work. I am blind, but I
can still do exactly what everybody else can do.
S1 (09:05):
So what was that initial interview like? How was it
different from all the other interviews?
S2 (09:10):
Because I was going through a job agency. They actually
had kind of warmed the lead a little bit for me.
They'd spoken ahead of time to the hospital and gone, Hi,
you know, we've got a heap of applicants. Will you
take any? And they went, Well, we'll consider them, but
you know, we'll put them through a normal application process.
Here's the link. Go, go do. So I had to
go through the whole government website and do a full
(09:32):
three page application answering questions that they ask you and
then provide your resume. It's quite a large written process.
And then if they then like you, they'll then bring
you in for an interview, which they did for me,
and they were actually really supportive because they knew that
I couldn't see. They actually came to me and asked me.
They were like, What can we do to help you
(09:53):
in the interview? So they were actually really, really supportive.
I was like, Well, I just will need the questions
that you're going to ask because they did a little, um,
like a role play of, you know, if this happens,
how would you deal with it? So I was like, Well,
I just need the scenario sent to me by email
so that I can actually read it and answer it.
So yeah, it was, it was pretty good, but it
was just a normal, like, scary interview, you know, three
(10:14):
people panel. Sitting on one side of the table and
you're sitting on the other. So it wasn't really very
much of a different interview. I walked in at the time.
I had a white cane and I walked in and
it was kind of daunting, but I got through it
and they decided that, yeah, actually was as good as
I said I was and actually better than some of
the other people they interviewed. So yeah, I got the job.
S1 (10:36):
So in the end, the only difference between that interview
and the other interview was literally you being sent a question. Yeah.
S2 (10:44):
And being able to answer it and also then being
open to the process, to them actually being accepting of
the disability.
S1 (10:51):
So you're currently working as a project support officer at
Queensland Health. Could you share with us what your job entails?
S2 (10:58):
I'm a policy officer, so answer people's questions. They'll ring me,
I might answer them, I might have to talk to
other people in the office first and then compile an
answer and write back to them. Or sometimes we'll do
some research. So that's where some of my criminology degree
comes in, because I learned about how to do research.
So we'll do some research on a particular topic, like,
(11:19):
for example, artificial intelligence and how it interacts with data,
that kind of thing, and then go, okay, well, you know,
we need to put this in the context of access
to information, go and research all of that. Put together
a little brief of, you know, this is all of
everything I found. This is what I think the policy
should be. And then I provide it to my superiors
(11:39):
and I finish writing it. Then off it goes. And
we also support as part of the Office 16 Hospital
and Health Services. And in those we've got what's called
research ethics committees. So we support those around the state
in processes to approve or decline research applications to do research.
So it's a pretty varied role. It requires a good
(12:02):
knowledge of draws with a screen reader because you're certainly
doing a lot of word processing and a lot of
Internet searching and good phone skills too.
S1 (12:11):
I know we talked a little bit about the hiring
process and what was like, and you said that you
came in with a white cane. Then after that you
came in with a dog guide. So what was it
like that you had to adjust to working in an
office with a dog guide?
S2 (12:23):
I was lucky in that I was able to actually
prepare them because I knew going in so so my
transition happened as I actually transitioned jobs to. So I
went from working in the Gold Coast University Hospital to
the current role of the project support officer. So I
was moving offices and I knew sometime in the next
six months I was going to get a dog for
(12:44):
the first time. So I actually told them that ahead
of time. It was like, look, sometime in the next
six months there's going to be a dog and I'm
going to need to take leave and I'm going to
have to come back in and everything's going to be different.
We're going to find some space for them. And they
were actually really supportive about that. They made sure that
we had plenty of space between the desks to put
a little bed down and so I could tie him
(13:05):
up there and have him sitting there next to me
during the day. But certainly bringing a dog into the
office is quite like there's no hiding anymore. You know,
a white cane can sometimes be kind of put off
to the side, but, you know, a guide dog standing
right there the whole time. So it's it's a lot
more obvious that, hey, I'm a blind person in this office.
(13:26):
But yeah, it's been amazing. They really, really love him.
They're really excited whenever he comes in and he actually
gets some playtime in the middle of the day. So
I don't make him sit there on his harness for
eight hours. That wouldn't be very nice. So take it off.
And yeah, he gets some pats from my co-workers. He's
really accepted as a member of the team.
S1 (13:47):
What sort of adjustments do you need for your job?
S2 (13:50):
Really? Not a lot, to be honest. Sometimes just a
little bit of extra break time for the dog or
on the computer. I've got a screen reader that runs.
I need a good quality computer and they actually bought
the screen reader Jaws for me, so I didn't even
have to go through it. Job access. I just got
a copy of it, which was really great. And then
I just have my headphones plugged in so the whole
office doesn't have to listen to it speaking all the time.
(14:12):
So you didn't.
S1 (14:12):
Even go through job access. It's not a cheap piece
of equipment that's showing real belief and support in.
S2 (14:18):
You know, it's not it's an expensive piece of software.
They could have gone through job access and we talked
about it and they looked into the forms and they
wound up just buying it for me because they had
the resources to do that. And yeah, obviously saw the
value in me.
S1 (14:32):
Did you do any orientation mobility around the workplace?
S2 (14:35):
I did, yes. Yeah, I did a fair bit of that.
So I actually normally do that before I start my job.
So that's like a prep work. I go like a
week before, you know, I know I'm going to start somewhere,
whether it's uni or work or whatever I'm doing, and
go and get familiar with the area and learn how
to actually get in there.
S1 (14:54):
So what's next for you? You mentioned that you're getting
a degree in law, so what future goals do you have?
S2 (15:00):
Sir, I'm doing that to eventually become a barrister. I'm
quite good at mooting, which is basically a role play
of a courtroom. So quite good at thinking on the
go and talking. So yeah, that's my goal. It's a
long process I've got. To finish this degree, which I've
got five semesters left and then I've got to do
practical legal training. And then from there there's an exam set.
(15:24):
It's a long process. It's going to be difficult. It's
not very many blind barristers. It's this not really a
done thing. So it's going to be an interesting path
for me.
S1 (15:35):
Yeah, but. Right. Would that be to be, you know,
literally a visible person out there, you know, fighting for
other people and also, you know, having your your dog
guide there agreeing with you?
S2 (15:48):
Yeah, it'll be pretty awesome. I love helping people. So
I've gone into the career that I've gone into. Both
degrees are very much about helping people.
S1 (15:56):
You're kind of in this area where you're working and
you're also working towards something and you just had such
a great attitude in the fact that you reached out
to us for this. So what made you fill out
the survey and reach out to us for this?
S2 (16:09):
Well, I saw it and I thought, well, I knew,
you know, in in the blind community, there's a lot
of trouble getting jobs. So I felt like I needed
to share my story and go, Hey, guys, you know,
you can do it. Eventually you'll get a job. Just
keep trying and it will eventually happen for you.
S1 (16:25):
And what advice do you have for the next generation
of job seekers, The people who are in school now
and they're looking for maybe part time jobs and then
looking for a career in the future? What sort of
advice would you have for them? Yeah, I.
S2 (16:36):
Mean, if they can start to get some experience now
while they're in school, you know, that will really help
build their resume. It's about getting the experience, show you're
actually capable of doing what you want to do and
then actually getting somebody who can back you and go, Hey,
please employ this person. So that's where the volunteering really
comes in because then, you know, you can actually show
(16:56):
someone what you're capable of and and they can actually
you can use them as a reference. They can go,
you know, this person's really great, employ them. Also, you know,
if you are applying and you're not getting very far,
just keep applying, you know, check that resume with someone
who can check it for you or, you know, it's
a good resume and then just keep on applying and
eventually you'll you'll get something.
S1 (17:15):
So we just had a lovely time talking to Isabella
Allen about her career journey and her future prospects. Thank
you so much for joining us today, Isabella, as we
walked along the career path. The conversation doesn't have to
stop here. Share this podcast episode on social media and
start a conversation with your friends, family, and followers, or
(17:38):
tell us what's on your mind. You can provide feedback
through the email Career podcast at Vision Australia. Org The
Career Path Podcast series is available to download via our website.
Just go to Vision Australia org and type the career
path into the search field to find our webpage where
you can listen to other episodes benefit from a range
(17:59):
of resources and subscribe to ensure you don't miss any
episodes or find us on your favourite podcast platform. Remember
to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates and
bonus content, Facebook.com slash radio network and twitter.com slash radio network.
Thanks for traveling with us along the career path.
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