Prue Hawkins says she “couldn’t find a job to save her life”, after graduating from a top law school, ABC News reports.
Ms Hawkins has brittle bone disease and, as a wheelchair user, found it difficult to access buildings. She also faced discrimination because of her disability.
Ms Hawkins spent three years searching for a job and applied for more than 30 roles before starting her own law firm.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh you’re so brave starting your own business’, and I say no, this was a necessity because no-one would hire me. I wanted to be a valued member of society and contribute, and I just couldn’t,” she says.
Five years after starting her business, Ms Hawkins is thriving and says she “will never go back to working for someone else”.
While Prue Hawkins was busy establishing her law firm, on the other side of the world, disability activist Caroline Casey was launching a global movement. She had one goal — to get 500 of the world’s biggest businesses to employ more people with disabilities.
“I created The Valuable 500 out of sheer frustration because we were not seeing accelerated change for people with disabilities,” she explains.
“We wanted to create a community that would drive systemic change and end exclusion once and for all.
“We now represent 21 million people from 41 different countries. So, don’t tell me we can’t do it.”
“There’s one very simple reason we should pay attention to disability inclusion and that’s because there’s a disability consumer market worth $13 trillion annually,” she argues.
“How can you serve that market if you don’t have disabled talent working in your business?”
FULL STORY
Disabled talent drive innovation, shareholder value and business performance (ABC News)
PHOTO
Prue Hawkins, director of Empire Barristers and Solicitors, spent three years trying to find a job before starting her own law firm.(ABC News: Rachel Pupazzoni)
