I thought I already had this blog post in my drafts, but apparently not. I guess I’ve just said it around the internet in a few places or in messages and thought I’d drafted it. Given today’s Guardian article it seemed timely to finally gather the ad-hoc comments I’ve made over the years into a […]
Author: Vanessa Smith
Is there still an opportunity to do foundational supports well?
Recently in an interview for work I said “this can all be summed up by saying there’s still an opportunity for foundational supports to be an amazing service for Australians with a disability” (audio version here, version with transcript here). And to be fair to myself, that is technically true. When they haven’t […]
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How many degrees does it take to overcome ableism?
In public, disability and employment is often talked about in terms of entry level employment only. Within a report published by WWDA there was an interesting comment: “Employment supports tended to be catered to entry level jobs and were not tailored to people’s capabilities. Those with physical disabilities or chronic conditions reported the only […]
Advocacy to Greens re RACGP
I’m planning to document and collate more of my advocacy on this site. Mostly so that others can use my words as a template to save them energy (though my words are never perfect nor are they the only words you can use). I’ll collect the links on one page eventually but for now they’ll […]
Asynchronous communication advocacy
I’m planning to document and collate more of my advocacy on this site. Mostly so that others can use my words as a template to save them energy (though my words are never perfect nor are they the only words you can use). I’ll collect the links on one page eventually but for now they’ll […]
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Being headhunted as a disabled person
Fairly often, people will reach out to me about a job they have vacant. As I’ve explained before, I disclose my needs immediately in recruitment. It saves me wasting my time. Unfortunately, the large majority of the time, simply needing adjustments means that you get ghosted by people. They’ll just go silent on […]
One problem with “reasonable” accomodations
One of the many problems with “reasonable” accomodations (or adjustments, if you prefer that terminology) is that if you have a disability they’ve never seen before, simply learning about your disability is often “unreasonable” to them. Because omg they’ve met and accommodated one disabled person before and you’re totes being rude by making them […]
Capacity building being unsuitable isn’t “being negative”
Whenever I advocate for a system of supports that don’t focus on capacity building, I get told I’m being negative. Even within disability circles I’ve had this said to me. As I say in the post I linked to above, many people with a disability know HOW to do something, we simply cannot do […]
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Disabled? Work in disability!
As many people know, I had a lot of issues in finding a job in 2023. As someone who has to disclose my disability immediately, I don’t have the option to just slip my needs in later. In 2025 there was a period I started looking for work again due to funding uncertainty. As […]
Disclosing your disability at work
“Just don’t disclose your disability until you’re hired!” We’ve all heard it before. Employment can be a very ableist space. Unfortunately, there comes a time or a type of need where you can’t not disclose, because you need accommodations from the very start of the recruitment process. Take me for example. I […]