Opening Opportunities conference presentations

Sixteen presentations from the Opening Opportunities conference about uncovering employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities. It features speakers, including young people with disability, their families and professionals from Australia and overseas talking about Customised Employment. 

Customised Employment is a person-centred approach to helping people with disability find and maintain employment by tailoring jobs to their specific skills, interests and needs. The videos are accompanied by transcripts.

Conference presentations

• Living the dream and creating a life full of possibility
  Every person has a dream unique to them, and Nathan has been living his. This has been possible for Nathan because his family started with a vision for his life that did not put limits on what could be possible for him.
• Customised Employment in the Australian system
  Dr Jenny Crosbie identifies obstacles to delivering customised employment in Australia and provides solutions to overcome them.
• Don’t believe everything you think: Discovery and challenging conventional wisdom.
  Milton Tyree, first keynote speaker for the Opening Opportunities conference, speaks about Customised Employment and Discovery.
• Customised Job Development: A creature of habit no more
  In Milton Tyree's second keynote of the conference, he describes the difference between customised employment and the traditional method of finding a job.
• Our Discovery journey with Milly
  Milly describes her informal discovery process, and how she learned about her interests and opportunities through work experiences and extracurricular activities.
• Developing roles that align with Jessie’s interests and contributions
  Discussion of experience with Job Development, focusing on Jessie’s role in after-hours school care.
• Daisy’s school to work journey
  Daisy Brown and her mother explain how Daisy has used her high school years to explore employment and create a seamless transition from year 12 to working life in a job that is a great fit for Daisy.
• Will at work
  Will Coventry and his mother shared their journey in crafting a meaningful week of work and volunteering with the support of Will's Circle of Support.
• Who are you? The evolving role of Job Supporter – Part 1
  The role of the Job Supporter can be confusing for everyone.
• Who are you? The evolving role of Job Supporter – Part 2
  The role of the Job Supporter can be confusing for everyone.
• Working this out together
  Jack Kruger presented alongside his Job Supporter and his work supervisors, providing an overview of his various work roles since he was 14.
• Discovering micro enterprise: exploring possibilities
  Helen Neale discusses the process of establishing a micro enterprise and why is can be a wonderful career option.
• Creating a microenterprise to explore Sethmi’s interests
  Erosha explains how her family created a microenterprise for their daughter, Sethmi, based on subtle interests they noticed during the Discovery process.
• How Customised Employment enabled Ryan to surpass everyone’s expectations
  Corinna Gilligan explains how creative thinking and exploration of Customised Employment enabled her son Ryan to surpass everyone's expectations.
• Tips, tussles, and traps
  Michelle shares insights from her research and draws on her experience leading the Ticket to Work approach and the Inclusive Pathways to Employment pilot.
• How Gus found himself a second job through his community connections
  Gus Reichelt and his father explain how Gus found himself a second part-time job and how they've worked with his employers to customise the role.