After almost 10 years, I have stepped away from Disability Employment Services (DES) – partly by choice, and partly circumstances.

The circumstances mentioned above were the organisation I worked for being unsuccessful in tendering for the new Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA). The choice side of the equation was that I believed I had done all that I was able to do within the parameters of DES and IEA going forward.

I valued my time in DES, starting in administration and ending in case management. I also valued the organisation that gave me the opportunity to contribute to an area of work and life that I am passionate about, disability.

I also learned some valuable lessons, not just about myself, but about what may work and not work in the industry. This is about the latter. I also learned what still needs to evolve.

The first lesson is that attitudes towards people with a disability have shifted in the right direction. Is it that that is a product of the times, with more social awareness? Perhaps.

There were, however, still some infuriating attitudes to deal with. I still recall occasions when speaking with prospective employers about matching people with their organisations, that I would get asked things such as ‘are they special?’.

That ignores the reality that workers in the industry are supposed to match people with the right jobs. There are however well documented and discussed occasions where that has not occurred.

One of the next things that would be asked or enquired about were wage subsidies. It seemed on occasion that employers knew the system and were only willing to give people with a disability a chance with assistance involved. The assistance can be both a good and a bad thing.

Something I have learned, both as a participant in the system, and as an employee, is that bigger does not equal better.

I have been with organisations as a participant that just treated you like a number. Thankfully, the organisation that employed me was not one of them, and that is something that both myself and participants valued.

On the face of it, it appears that bigger has been valued as better in the transition to IEA. Big organisations won contracts, and smaller organisations were awarded more service areas. There were however some notable big scalps as part of the culmination of the tender process.

It will be interesting to see whether the changes that have been implemented as part of the framework for IEA will be enough to offset this.

While not being an employee in the area going forward, I will continue to observe and engage as someone wanting to see improvements and success in this and all areas of disability services.