A VISION-impaired Sunshine resident says he is being robbed of his
independence and livelihood following Vision Australia’s decision to
shut its sheltered warehousing units, including one in Kensington.
Simon Giddings fears he will be forced onto a disability pension
and will be unable to support his family after losing the only
employment he has ever known.
Vision Australia announced earlier this month that it will close
all Vision Australia Enterprises units in Melbourne, Sydney and
Brisbane. The closures leave more than 60 vision-impaired workers
without jobs. The enterprise units bring in revenue of $2.4 million a
year, but cost $3.6 million to run.
Scores of employees and their families and supporters rallied at
Federation Square on August 18 demanding Vision Australia keep the
warehouses open, as they provide manual work — including cleaning,
packaging, labelling and assembling — for blind people with little
opportunity to work elsewhere.
Mr Giddings was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rapidly
developing eye cancer, as an infant and had been completely blind since
he was 18 months old. His two daughters also have the condition.
He told the Weekly he
didn’t know how he would provide for three young children and a wife
who was disabled by a brain injury. He feared he may lose his home and
be forced to live on a disability pension.
“Fundamentally it is a loss of independence as well as the loss of a workplace which means a lot to me,” he said.
Mr Giddings said he was considering his employment options but was not confident.
A spokesman for the Blind Workers Union, Martin Stewart, said he
was in discussions with employees to conduct further rallies and
industrial action.
Vision Australia chief executive Ron Hooton said a six-week
consultation period had started and the organisation would welcome
proposals on a viable solution to keep the warehouses open.
