Recently, the AMES staff members who work on the National Community Connector Program participated in a workshop about the role of service animals in Australia. The workshop raised awareness for people from multi-cultural backgrounds in the access rights for people with a visual disability who use a service animal such as a guide dog in Australia.
This included meeting the service dogs, understanding how they are trained and how the owner works with the animals. We also spoke about some myths around service animals, discrimination towards guide dogs and the importance of language.
The session was delivered by Maribel Steel who is a freelance writer, author, international speaker and educator, Amir Abdi is a young Kurdish man with many passions, speaks several languages and is a keen sportsman. Both Maribel and Amir have service dogs.
The Community Connectors participated in the workshop to learn more about blindness and low vision as well as to breakdown any stigmas or myths around the use of service animals. Although this session focused on low vision the Community Connectors work with people who have a range of different disability.
The Community Connectors support Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities with disability and their carers to:
- Support community members to access and apply for the NDIS
- Increase awareness of disability and the NDIS
- Reduce barriers to accessing the NDIS by providing outreach
- Support communication between NDIS and the community
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We have staff who speak Dari, Hazaragi, Arabic, Persian, Burmese, Chin-Zomi, Thadou-Chin and Thadou-Kuki. This is a free service funded through the National Disability Insurance Agency. For more information please contact the Project Coordinator – Tessa Hughes on mobile: 0401 660 483 or email: hughest@ames.net.au Download project info: |