Roberta is one of our Faces of WOB for Disability and Inclusion. She became blind nine years ago at the age of 46 as a result of an NHS surgery and had to fight for access to her adopted child, spoke of her journey in this podcast.
Blind Citizens Australia’s Executive Leadership Program (ELP) is a leadership and succession planning initiative that builds the skills and capacity of leaders who are blind or vision impaired through training, mentoring, and support.
The program aims to increase the number of leaders who are blind or vision impaired in leadership roles across the blindness and broader disability sectors (and beyond).
Roberta said to be chosen for the program is “an incredible thrill”. “It’s a program aimed at improving the representation of blind and visually impaired people in management and board positions, so this does fit in nicely with my Women on Boards membership.
“BCA is the leading light in lobbying for the blind community across Australia. I am hoping that completing the Executive Leadership Program and the contacts that I make there, combined with my involvement with WOB will lead to a paid role and open up more doors.”
Roberta, who will be speaking at a special WOBChat on 19 October 2022 with Nadia Moffat OAM on how to include people with disability on your board or committee, said more needs to be done to encourage organisations to employ people with disabilities.
“There are so few expectations in terms of employment for blind and vision impaired people - and for people with disabilities in general. There is a very large pool of people there willing to and able to work.
“While there are considerations that do need to be made for some people with disabilities, a lot of people and organisations are simply put off from employing someone with vision impairment because of worry about costs or training or limitations.”
The ELP will develop a supportive network of leaders to represent and amplify the voices of people who are blind or vision impaired through Board, senior leadership, coaching and mentoring roles within BCA and beyond.
WOBChat: Disability and Boards - 19 October 2022
To better understand how to include people with disability on your board or committee, make sure you enrol for our special WOBChat with Roberta and Nadia Moffatt OAM HERE