Episode 30: Enabling Employment

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0:00 Carers Queensland announcement: Leaving school is a huge milestone in anybody’s life and if you know someone who needs a little extra support, Carers Queensland is here to help.  Our School To Adult Life Transition project is making sure young people with disability have a chance to make the best start. That means building skills, knowledge, opportunities, making connections with their community and meeting the people who can help them succeed.  We’re building a community where all our kids, of all abilities, are welcome and included and able to thrive.  Find out more, get in touch or look for events and opportunities coming up near you: visit our website at carersqld.com.au or call our enquiries line on 1300 999 636. 

0:49: Introduction: Choice and Control, a podcast celebrating people with disability, brought to you by Carers Queensland NDIS Local Area Coordination Partner in the Community. 

Dr Gary Allen is the founder of Enabled.VIP, a business incubator built around the needs of aspiring entrepreneurs with disability.  He knows a thing or two about business himself, his research ethics consultancy has worked around the world including contracts in far flung places like Lithuania and Kazakhstan.  Gary has multiple sclerosis and uses a power wheelchair, and he says Australia has some catching up to do when it comes to people with disability’s involvement in employment and entrepreneurship. 

1:34 Gary Allen: When you look at many stats and you compare North America, the UK and Europe to us, the level of disability entrepreneurship compared to non-disabled folk is much higher in those other countries than it is here.  And when you drill down there is a lack of roles, which obviously becomes a self-replicating problem, a lack of peer support, a lack of resources. So the idea of Enabled.VIP is to say ‘look what we can do’.  We help to establish, nurture and support a community of practice and try and help folk.  You know, whether it’s monetising of your craft, establishing a microbusiness or establishing a small business, if we can help people to do that.  We’re not talking about the next Apple of Amazon, we might only be talking about a few hundred dollars a month.  You know, that could transform people’s lives.  So, over 40% of Australians who live with a disability are living on or near the poverty line, so if we can do something to help I think that’s just a massive public good so that’s what we’re trying to set up. 

2:47 Fiona Stutz: How long has Enabled.VIP been in existence? 

2:51 Gary: So we’ve been working on it for about two years.  We’re currently doing a pilot test with ten Australians, we have got the resource library and the blog live now. 

3:03 Fiona: So how is Enabled.VIP different to what else is out there, or is there nothing else out there like this?  

3:09 Gary: I mean there’s Remarkable, which is a group down south which is a technology incubator for folk with a disability.  The stuff that they do is great, but they’re a bit later in the journey than we are.  So we’ve already chatted to them about how we might have some members that we urge in their direction, and maybe they have some people who are contacting them that they urge in our direction.  

University of Technology Sydney did a research group that was looking at disability entrepreneurship about 18 months ago and when you hear people talking about the program a lot of folk with disabilities kept talking about how much, how difficult it was to jump from doing nothing at all in the business space to running your own business and how much apprehension it caused.  And so what we thought was there’s a good support for the idea, the support to help people do it and walk them through the basics of things like setting up an ABN and thinking about insurance, setting up tracking for your money and that sort of thing.   

So the point of Enabled.VIP is to say ‘we can help’, so we’re a source of support.  Unlike the incubators that are out there for non-disabled folk, you know, we get disability.  We understand there will be times where people just won’t be able to rush around setting things up and so it’s an agenda of, let us be a friend that helps you, support, a voice that you can call on for advice, is really what we’re trying to set up. 

4:56 Fiona: Now why do you think it’s important for people with disability to have employment goals? 

5:01 Gary: I think it’s incredibly important.  What we end up talking about is dignity, social connection, a sense that you’re making a contribution and your work is actually being recognised.  If we help people gradually set up something that will generate money, it connects them to society, it gives them some affirmation and dignity which I think is a nett benefit.   

In the UK there was a program helping folk with an intellectual disability to set up their own business, and they worked out it saved just over two million pounds in terms of reduced welfare payments because people who are earning some money reduce call on mental health and social support services because of that greater connection.   

Griffith University has got something they call the Dignity Project which we are connected to fairly strongly because you know we believe that when we’re talking about entrepreneurship and we’re talking about that kind of engagement that is absolutely about dignity. 

6:14 Jodie van de Wetering: Starting a business, like everything else, takes money and that can be a huge barrier if you’re currently underemployed or unemployed.  So Enabled.VIP has a free option to make sure it’s accessible for the people who need it most. 

6:27 Gary: So at the moment we’ve got what we call bronze membership which is completely free, anybody who lives with a disability, or a carer, or someone with an established connection to disability in Australia can join the platform for free.  When they join that way they get access to our resource library, they all get invites to our webinars and are sent our blog. You know it’s probably about 80% or so of the platform that they are able to access for no cost.  There’s no expectation that they do anything, they can read the stuff that’s of interest to them and participate in any event that catches their interest.  We’d just really encourage people to join as a bronze member so if you go to the enabled.vip website there’s a join link and as part of the join there’s a spot where you can say you want to join as a free member.  

I’m not doing this to make money, but I mean I think that what Australia’s doing at the moment isn’t working.  The country cannot afford not to be doing a better job about disability employment.  I think disability entrepreneurship is a big part of the equation. 

7:48 Carers Queensland announcement: Do you have a passion or a talent to share with the world?  A small business can be a great way for people with disability to earn income, build your confidence, be more independent and be an active part of your community.  Carers Queensland is supporting our next generation of entrepreneurs with the Be Your Own Boss Microbusiness Project.  It’s a place to find out what it means to start a business, whether it’s a good fit for you, connect with business mentors and learn from existing microbusiness owners, and even opportunities to showcase your goods and services in the be your own boss marketplace.  Find out more, get in touch, or look for events and opportunities coming up near you: visit our website at carersqld.com.au or call our enquiries line on 1300 999 636. 

8:38 Fiona: Now you’ve spoken about Enabled.VIP a bit, tell me about what other things are you invested in with work? 

8:45 Gary: My day job is at Griffith University. I’m in the research office as a full-time staff member.  I’ve been there since 2003.  The philanthropic company I mentioned before is a consultancy in the research ethics and research integrity space, and that’s something I’m passionate about is the opportunity to actually pay forward in terms of some of that experience I’ve had.  I think, it’s not that hard to set something up that will generate you some income.  If we can help you make those steps, you know, it’s not an insurmountable goal at all. 

9:32 Fiona: Did you have to change your career trajectory after you were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis?  

9:36 Gary: I was on a particular career path at the time I first got ill with multiple sclerosis, it’s forced a career change and it’s the best thing that happened to me.  If you look at your life, you can’t look at the bad things that happen to you and say ‘I wish that hadn’t happened, if it hadn’t happened I would have done these other things’ because you won’t be the same person if you didn’t have those bad experiences in your life.  So I’m pleased that I’ve got MS, I’m pleased that it forced change in terms of how I looked at my life, how I looked at my family, and where I put my energy.  There’s a tendency to focus on the nasty symptoms but actually also there’s been some really important doors which have opened. 

10:25 Fiona: Yeah, that’s a great philosophy to have, definitely.  And where do you see yourself in five or ten years’ time with your employment and your projects? 

10:33 Gary: I’m planning that I’ll probably retire from the regular workforce in about two years.  I hope after that to keep doing work on the consultancy and Enabled.VIP.  I’d love to be in a position where Enabled is earning me a little bit of money, but you know, as I say it’s not about making money it’s about effecting a constructive change.  So in answering your question I hope in five years’ time I’m happily retired from regular work and I’m doing the things that I love in terms of those other two projects. 

11:13 Jodie: Former US President George W Bush coined the phrase ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’.  It refers to people who are vulnerable or marginalised, including many people with disability, not being expected to excel and achieve at the same rate as their mainstream counterparts.  Gary sees something of that attitude in the accepted wisdom around disability employment. 

11:37 Gary: It’s not very enabling, so it’s not about helping people to achieve what their dreams are, it’s ‘what are you prepared to settle on?’  I mean I think it’s an important change in the conversation to say ‘let’s help people pursue that’. I think of disabled folk in the workforce, over 30% of them have experienced some sort of prejudice or discrimination.  So you know disability entrepreneurship is asking people to set up their own work set up, and what they’re pursuing, rather than being locked into a toxic working environment. 

12:18 Fiona: Just tell me a little bit about your NDIS journey.  When did you access the Scheme and what sort of supports are you accessing now?  

12:25 Gary: So I started when Brisbane just went live, so what’s that now?  Two or three years ago.  

It’s made a phenomenal difference to my life.  I use a couple of carers who help me out during the day and, you know, as my ability with the keyboard and mouse is starting to deteriorate having somebody that can help me with that means I keep on doing the things that I love.  But it’s also being able to do some social activities and connections, all of that has really been made possible by the NDIS.   

I think, and the advice that I normally give to folk is, engage with a plan manager and a service coordinator who will engage with their Local Area Coordinator to get advice so that they’re actually able to use their plan to the max. It’s worth the effort to actually set up and maintain.  One of the things that floored me was about 50% of Australians with disability are women, and only about 30% of NDIS clients are women, which just completely floored me.  

It’s something that we’re trying to do, something that Enabled.VIP is trying to do.  Of our Board members four out of six members of the advisory board are women and we’re very conscious of intersectionality in terms of disability.  For example, if you’re a woman with an intellectual disability and you’re Indigenous you’re going to be facing three levels of barriers.  So it’s something that we’re very conscious of at Enabled.VIP and looking at ways to address that.   

There’s three of us on the advisory board, this is people who are living with disability, so it’s really important to have the motto of ‘nothing for or about us without us’.  You know we think that’s really important to have an authentic perspective of, we get some of these realities. 

14:46 Fiona: And you definitely keep busy with these projects, the for-profits, working and you were saying the NDIS is allowing you to have a bit of a social life as well.  What do you do in your limited spare time? 

15:00 Gary: My wife, son and I discovered a genuinely wheelchair friendly apartment up at Mooloolaba, so we went up there for two weeks together and there was a spot that had a hospital bed and a hoist in the apartment, which just made it possible basically for me to be there during the holiday and enjoy time with them.  Whether or not I do enough of that is probably an open question, given the fact that I’m a self-confessed workaholic.  Probably not enough, but you know I try.  I’m a member of a couple of social groups and online groups, so like the Disability Leadership Institute is just a fantastic way of connecting with folk nationally and unplugging from the grind for a little while. 

15:56 Jodie: To find out more about Enabled. VIP you can look them up online: the address is exactly what you think it will be, enabled.vip.  And for more support and resources around starting your own business you might be interested in Carers Queensland’s Be Your Own Boss Microbusiness project.  Find out more about that on the Carers Queensland website, carersqld.com.au 

Thanks for joining us at Choice and Control, a Carers Queensland podcast.  For more information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme or Carers Queensland contact us online at carersqld.com.au.  You can call us on 1300 999 636 or head to Facebook and look for Carers Queensland NDIS. 

Mentioned in this episode 

• Enabled.VIP 
• The Dignity Project 
• Be Your Own Boss Microbusiness Project 
• Carers Queensland website 
• Carers Queensland upcoming events and workshops 
• Carers Queensland NDIS on Facebook

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