IT TAKES COURAGE AND DETERMINATION
The Fiona Anderson I have come to know on The Rotary Radio and Community Service Show is a determined and focused individual who operates the panel and delineates the time allocation for each segment of a two hour radio program and does it with total professionalism.
I got to peek behind the Fiona Anderson story with her Member behind the Badge presentation. She is still strong. She is still determined , but I discovered the back story . Fiona has worked for Yooralla for six years, and has had cerebral palsy since her early childhood years. What I discovered about her was her interest in music, theatre and the arts. How she played the piano with one hand, and how she became interested in recording technology to enable her to have a left hand playing the chord and the right hand playing the melody. Her goal was to work in a music studio, and, in order to achieve this, she studied sound production in RMIT. It is tough getting a job in the music industry, but she also pursued a course in the music industry in business. However, she volunteered in community theatre and in Rotary Radio.
Excitement for Fiona comes in the form of working in technology and in the back room. She loves solving the problems which arise, and she also loved seeing young children learning music, for a short period of time. 2019 turned out to be a watershed year for her, and a loss of employment. She saw an advertisement for an Administrative Co-ordinator at Yooralla. In her early years, she had used their services, especially in the Independent Learning Centre. Unfortunately, it no longer exists. Fiona considered it to be a Disneyland, a showcase of all the possible devices that could be used for her daily living.
In that year, 2019, Fiona's entire focus was on her spreadsheets and data. She has now moved to dealing with a variety of issues for people with disabilities. Yooralla has the only ventillator-assisted service in Victoria. She also now handles staffing problems within Yooralla and Berry Street (which have merged) - how to improve retention rates, to look at the way people with disabilities work in Yooralla. Workplaces are hard for people with a disability. There are two aspects of this:
1. The anxiety of working with a team of people
2. How to access facilities in the work environment.
The three qualities required in a workplace for people with disabilities:
1. determination
2. patience
3. resourcefulness
We had a real treat in the meeting with Fiona's presentation. She showcased her courage, strength and tenacity, as well as her very impressive application of the knowledge she has acquired over a period of time. It was a privilege to hear what has made Fiona the way she is, and the reason why she continues to advocate for people with disabilities.
