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Disability Access Officer - Ian Purdie
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It takes a special type of person to dedicate their work life to people with disabilities, not once, but twice. Ian Purdie is one such individual. He came out of retirement, after spending the majority of his work life in service provision for people with disabilities, at a State level, only to venture back into the same industry in 2004. Making Ian a young 69 years old.
''As a senior citizen I have had a long and varied career, mostly in very people-oriented, community service and development roles. The major part of my working life was 23 years in the area of service provision for people with disabilities. I worked for nearly 15 years for the State Government, initially as a social worker and later in senior management positions with the State''s premier agency for disability services. I then spent eight years as the CEO of a non-profit organisation providing employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities. I retired in 2000 and then in 2004 came out of retirement to take on my present role.''
Ian has genuinely enjoyed making the transition to and working in local government saying that there is ample opportunity to develop one''s skills, forge a career in a variety of areas and be innovative with the support of one''s manager/director.
''Embrace the opportunity but realise that you need to be able to function alongside local government politics. I think some employees need to realise that there are many constraints that affect the speed of decision making and project completion.''
Ian spent three-and-a-half years in retirement but had been looking for an opportunity to exercise pre-existing skills and experience. Then he spotted an advertisement for a Disability Access Officer with the City of Rockingham, which he felt would provide him with a good opportunity to make a contribution at the local community level.
''My initial task was to develop a new Disability Access and Inclusion Plan (DAIP) for the Council and once that was completed, the focus was on implementation of the various action plans arising from the DAIP.''
Ian works closely with a Disability Access and Advisory Committee, made up of elected community representatives. His role necessitates working across all the Directorates within the Community Services team, as he needs to work closely with staff from a variety of areas in order for projects to reach completion or problems to be solved.
By that stage Ian had accumulated a wealth of professional experience and in order to qualify for his current role educational qualifications were not really a consideration, although he already had three tertiary qualifications to his credit. Today, however, he suggests that people interested in this line of work have a tertiary qualification most likely in the social services area. More importantly he says, is a positive attitude and values about people with disabilities and the capacity to translate those attitudes and values into practical and positive outcomes for the target audience. Ian suggests that those candidates also have the skills to work across a range of different disciplines within the local government context.
Over the years, Ian has seen some great changes occur in service provision for people with disabilities.
''I think the issues relating to community access and inclusion for people with disabilities have changed markedly over the years. There is a growing awareness in the general community, which reflects the fact that 20% of the people in our communities have a disability. People with disabilities expect to play their part in society in the same way as other people and they wish to see the barriers that prevent them from doing that, removed.''
The great thing says Ian is that at local government level this is strongly endorsed, as people seek the provision of services and facilities that are inclusive of people with disabilities. This has resulted in many councils employing specific staff to deal with access and inclusion issues, according to Ian. He says that it is disappointing to come across prejudice and ignorance that creates negative attitudes and values and puts barriers in place that discriminate against people with disabilities and their carers, however, his experience at the City of Rockingham has been largely positive and some very good advances have been made in terms of access and inclusion. This is witnessed by the fact that the City of Rockingham has an outstanding record in the Accessible Communities Awards including Winner of the Large Local Government Accessible Communities Award, twice.
Perhaps it should come as little surprise that Ian has now returned to the field he describes as inspirational, several years post retirement.
''It is exciting to discover both the capabilities and the frustrations of people with disabilities as they go about their everyday lives. Their capabilities are inspiring as many of them cope with severe disabilities and yet make a significant contribution in their local communities. Their frustrations are similarly exciting because they reveal the barriers and deficiencies that exist in the local communities and they present the challenges that need to be addressed and overcome.
''In the end it is all about values and attitudes. It is a pleasure to work with people who have positive attitudes and values about people with disabilities and who support and actively engage in activities that enhance the lives of those people.''
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Acknowledgements |
Content courtesy of Louise Allan-Johnson. |
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