Could you help young people who are blind or have low vision prepare for future employment?
Vision Australia is currently on the hunt for volunteer mentors for its 2020 Careers Sampler on March 7 in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The Careers Sampler is designed to encourage children and young people who are blind or have low vision to start considering what their career path may look like and how they might go about preparing for and achieving their employment goals in the future. It is also open to parents and carers and specialist vision teachers.
We’re after mentors who are willing to share their experiences with those who attend the Careers Sampler. This could be people who are blind or have low vision who are currently working or those who are currently studying at TAFE or university.
Mentors will have informal discussions with attendees and be able to share information around topics such as their lived experiences, their career or education path, challenges they may have faced and the techniques or strategies they use to overcome them.
“The Careers Sampler is about showing children and others that living with blindness or low vision isn’t a barrier to employment,” Natalie Kaine, Vision Australia Children & Young People Senior Practitioner, said.
“For children and their families, being able to meet and speak to our mentors who have a similar lived experience is extremely important. It is never too early for children to be thinking about their path to employment and events like the Career Sampler are important in keeping young people who are blind or have low vision on track with their sighted peers in terms of learning what jobs exist, and understanding where and how they are performed,” Natalie said.
The Careers Sampler will be held on Saturday, March 7 from 12.30pm – 4.30pm AEDT at the following locations:
- Sydney - Burwood RSL, 96 Shaftsbury Road, Burwood, NSW
- Melbourne – Vision Australia, Kooyong
- Brisbane – Vision Australia, Coorparoo (event will be 11.30am-3.30pm)
Volunteer mentors are required at each location. If you would like to find out more about the mentoring opportunity, please email:
- Sydney: visionaustraliachildrenservicessydney@visionaustralia.org
- Brisbane: tracy.millwood@visionaustralia.org
- Melbourne: paediatricVIC@visionaustralia.org.
You can find more information about the 2020 Careers Sampler here.