Sophie, an adult with cerebral palsy, shares her story about navigating the challenges of tertiary education and finding a rewarding profession
Year 12 often represents a pivotal transition in someone's life as they leave school and go onto further education, employment, or other pathways. As a young person with cerebral palsy, I reflect back on this time, nine years later, and I remember feelings of excitement and curiosity but also more nerves and anxiety. This was largely due to the fact that my post school life didn’t have a clear and linear path.
In Year 10, as part of the curriculum in NSW every student is required to participate in a week of work experience. In my case, I felt that my options were extremely limited because while my peers were working in hairdressers, vets, and cafes, I knew due to my physical limitations that these jobs were not going to be practical for me. My mum and I reached out to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, an organisation that I had been affiliated with all my life. Some people reading this may argue that this was an easy option, and maybe at the time, it was.
But what I didn’t realise was that it would spark a passion for disability beyond my own lived experience.
From that moment forward I knew that I wanted to work in the disability sector in some capacity.
Fast forward to the last couple of months of year 12 where my head is buried in books trying to retain information that I would forget as soon as the ‘pencils are down’. At this time, I am also juggling many specialist appointments which are exhausting to say the least. Especially when I’m having to undergo rigorous standardised testing to prove the special provisions that I would need to complete the HSC on an equal basis. But amidst all this, I’m also trying to figure out the next chapter.
As part of every students’ departure from schooling life, they and their parent/guardian are required to have a meeting with the Careers Advisor. I remember sitting in the office and the advisor asked if I had any thoughts about my future possibilities and I replied: “I’m looking at social work at uni, but I’m unsure if I can do it because of a key part of the degree is to complete 1000 hours of placement over the 4 year degree”, my mum added “having been to a few uni open days, I am worried that Soph will not get the support she needs whilst being considered a number in such a big place”.
The Careers Advisor looked at both of us and said “have you considered TAFE?”. I must admit, I hadn’t really thought of TAFE as an option. Whether this was because it wasn’t largely advertised or spoken about as a post-school option or, because all I heard amongst my peers was: “what university open day have you been to?”, “what courses are you going to apply for?”. Given this was the conversation that was happening around me, there was a seemingly unspoken pressure or assumption that university was the most prestigious path to take. If you didn’t go to uni, you weren’t going to succeed and you were going to fall behind.
So sure enough, the HSC exams came and went in a flash. Even though at the time it seriously felt like it was never going to end.
As one door closed, it was time to look forward to the next chapter.
TAFE started in January 2016 and I enrolled in a Certificate IV of Community Services. The worries we had in terms of me being a number in the university system quickly faded. Smaller classes were a reality and in this space I began to find myself and have my voice heard. TAFE allowed me to have meaningful relationships with my peers rather than meeting someone in one class with no guarantee that you would see them again the following semester. TAFE was different. My entire cohort stayed together for the 12-month course and many of us went on to do the Diploma of Community Services the following year.
Both these courses allowed me to slowly take more independent steps in a supportive environment and I witnessed my confidence grow and my anxiety around new situations fade. During this time I also had the support of a Youth Coach who also happened to have lived experience of cerebral palsy. As a young person who was trying to find her feet in the big wide world, I can’t tell you just how invaluable this support was. My Youth Coach was able to pass on the skills and knowledge she had as another person with cerebral palsy.
I learned everything from how to advocate for my access needs, résumé writing skills, how to comfortably disclose my disability in job interviews, travel training, and learning local bus routes.
I was even given the opportunity to learn how to book my own ski holiday for my family. While these skills might seem like common sense to some, these life skills were neglected due to me trying to manage my appointments as well as my fatigue levels during my schooling years. TAFE gave me so much more than a University education ever could and I can say this with confidence because I have attended both institutions, but I will address my university experience in due course.
Throughout my 2 years at TAFE I completed 240 hours of work placement in the disability sector in a variety of roles. This gave me a further taste into the workforce, cementing my passion for the disability sector. TAFE saw me go from a shy teenager to a confident young adult who wanted to secure her first permanent part-time role within the sector. The following year I was successful in achieving my goal when I landed my first role as an administrator for Hireup, a company that aims to give back choice and control to participants in the support that they receive.
The friendships that I built at Hireup were very important to me as many of my colleagues shared the same passion and interests, some also having lived experience of disability. I stayed in this role for 18 months before moving across to their sister organisation called Fighting Chance. I started in this role as a Learning Coordinator and this is where I would stay for the next 3 and a half years. If I didn’t already have enough on my plate, I decided to go to university to complete a Bachelor of Inclusive Education and Disability Studies.
It was definitely a juggle managing part-time work and part-time study, as well as the various medical appointments that I still had to attend, but I am so glad that I did it.
My university experience taught me resilience and the power of my own voice. I remember on my first day of university I was sitting in a big lecture theatre and I had a flashback to what my careers advisor had stated to me those 4 years ago and the comment that was made around me being a number. I definitely did feel this, there was no-one checking in to make sure that I had the support necessary, instead that was all up to me. I soon had the realisation that from this moment forward I could no longer rely on someone else to advocate for me on my behalf. This was an important realisation that I needed to have and something that I carry with me to this day: If I want something to change, no one else is going to do it for me.
Keeping up with the university workload was definitely tough as I had to dictate all of my assignments to my support worker or exam supervisor. Given that this is not a skill that comes naturally to most people, this was incredibly time consuming and fatiguing. Although I thoroughly enjoyed university, for me personally, I am glad that I took the stepping stones that I did up until this point. By the end of my university degree in 2022, I was definitely ready to see the back of assignments and exams. Having been at Fighting Chance now for 3-and-a-half years, I was also looking for my next career move.
I wanted to put into practice the skills and knowledge that I had gained throughout my degree. Throughout my career so far I had identified that I wanted to work in disability advocacy, so I spent the next couple of months applying for different roles and was lucky enough to be offered employment at First People’s Disability Network, an organisation which advocates for First Nation’s People with disabilities. My first role was as a Policy Officer and more recently, an access and Inclusion Coordinator. I have been with the company for 18 months now and I love working for an organisation that has so much passion and drive to make a difference.
I hope that this post has given you insight into the opportunities that are available for people with disabilities and reassured you that your path post school does not have to be linear, there may be many twists and turns, but in the end you can achieve your goal.
For more information about schooling and entering the workforce as a person with cerebral palsy, My CP Guide hosts a variety of information resources that can be applicable for people of all ages. Browse the Education and Work sections to learn more, or check out our downloadable resource Navigating the employment journey for people with cerebral palsy