Siblings Jamieson and Montana Whiteley have been participating in the eight-week cooking course.(ABC News: Mietta Adams)
Running a marathonor completing a triathlonis an impossible feat for most people – but not for 25-year-old Montana Whiteley and her brother Jamieson, 26, who are decorated athletes within Australia and internationally.
But while they excel in the sporting arena, it's been much tougher for Montana and Jamieson to make inroads on the employment front.
The Melbourne siblings both have a genetic intellectual disability called Fragile X syndrome, which is caused by a change to one of the genes on the X chromosome.
It can make everyday tasks challenging, and the prospect of career pathways almost insurmountable.
But inside an industrial kitchen in Melbourne's south-east, they have been learning new cooking skills alongside other young people with disability.
Montana and Jamieson Whitely are successful athletes and have competed internationally.(Supplied: Penny Whiteley)
The eight-week class is run by All Things Equal — a social enterprise that provides paid employment and training for people with disability.
It's inspired Ms Whiteley to want to work in a café one day.
It's important to make new friends, learn new things. It's really enjoyable, she said.
As well as learning cooking and baking skills, the General Manger of All Things Equal Bianca Stern said the classes also teach participants about punctuality, teamwork and following a directions from a manager.
They're really getting that that solid, foundational understanding of what it's like to be in a proper industrial work environment, she said.
'Systemic issues' in the workforce
Ms Stern said there was a lack of employment of people with disability, particularly with intellectual disabilities.
The latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found the unemployment rate for people with disability aged between 15 and 64 was ten per cent – which was about double the rate of unemployment for those without disability.
It also found that in 2018, young people aged 15-24 with disability were more than twice as likely to be unemployed than those aged 25-64 years old.
The unemployment rate for people with disability has not changed in 30 years, and so that tells us that we have a systemic issue on our hands, said Ms Stern.
She said she wanted employers to recognise the benefits of including more people with disability in the workplace.
It just comes down to shifting our mindset.
Students at the cooking school are taught how to prepare, cook and prepare food.(ABC News: Mietta Adams)
Advocating by existing
All Things Equal also runs a café, which has hired 28 people with disability since it opened three years ago in Balaclava.
Ms Stern said a café can be a perfect environment for more extroverted people who want to work front of house, and also for people who prefer a calmer environment and can consistently prepare meals.
All Things Equal aims to provide a higher standard of training and service than regular venues.
Ms Stern said that they don't want to be viewed as a beautiful charity that supports people with disability but instead a place where customers can go to get reliable and great food and coffee.
''The cafe has an exceptional way to advocate just by existing, she said.
Tailored programs help people with intellectual disability enter the workforce.(ABC News: Mietta Adams)
All Things Equal tailors the training and employment to each individual, including for people with intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.
Tailored support is essential to helping people enter the workforce, according to Inclusion Australia chief executive Catherine McAlpine.
The evidence is really clear that people with intellectual disability learn on the job and learn about work by working, she said.
She said while it is an intensive process early on, it's an investment in the future.
Employers who are looking for loyal, competent, deeply engaged employees. People with disability are exactly that, Ms McAlpine said.
We need to get away from punitive type programs that punishes people for not working, and put in genuine evidence based supports that help people through the steps that they need to become job ready.
The difficulty in finding employers willing to take a chance
While programs like All Things Equal gradually bring down barriers to enter the workforce and reduce harmful stigma, some families say there's still a long way to go.
Montana and Jamieson's mother Penny Whiteley said it can be difficult to find employers who willing to give people with special needs a chance.
Penny Whiteley hopes more employers will include people with disability in the workplace.(ABC News: Mietta Adams)
People with disabilities have got so much to offer. If you give them a task or you give them a job, they're very committed, and they can do it, and they'll do it well, she said.
Once it's a learned skill, they're really, really good at it. But it's just finding someone that's got the patience and the time to put into to making them learn that particular skill.
I think it would be lovely if the community knew that about special needs people, and that the stigma about being special can be actually be positive and not just a negative all the time.
Montana now has the skills to bake independently at home.(ABC News: Mietta Adams)
Montana has already put her new cooking skills to the test by baking cookies and slices at home.
Her mother said the ability to cook independently had been fantastic for both Montana and Jamieson's self-confidence.
It also helps that Montana has a sweet tooth.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-27/cooking-school-social-enterprise-people-with-disability-skills/103874690
