My name is Michaela. I volunteer at CASBA and I recently created an employability project for the LINK self advocacy group.

This is how it happened: I first got the idea from the group answering a survey for our local council. They said things like interviews and work places aren’t very accessible for them. At the time, I was a student on university work placement and I decided to do something to help the group and get their frustration out. So I spoke to Jen, who is co-chair, and we set some dates to do some activities that could help the group.

I met with Jen and Joe and we did some role play of good and bad interviews, although Jen struggled to be bad. We still did it and then showed the group by doing this live and then showing the videos when they were ready. We booked a room and asked for the tables to be moved out of the way so that we had more space and freedom to practice the interviews. They enjoyed this. Although I did give a script, no one had to follow it. It was just a rough idea of what to do. Some people needed a prompt but that’s ok as we help each other here.

The second week and final workshop was when the chaos happened. The group were let loose to throw water balloons! Now let me explain this better: I thought the group had frustration towards the lack of accessibility people who have a disability have when it comes to interviews. As a person with autism I think outside the box, so when I met with Jen another thing that happened with our plan. We booked the garden to write our frustration words on the path and throw water balloons and squirt them with water guns. Obviously I made some ground rules for outside safety first always. This allowed us to wash away what upset us about the inaccessibility of the world of work when it’s not made for people who have a disability to fit in.

I think they liked it. I’ve never done anything like this before, so getting feedback was important and I think It was a great outcome.

Michaela Mooney