THEY SAID I WOULD NEVER WORK

1. THEY SAID I WOULD NEVER WORK CASE STUDY BY PHIL PITCHERS

2. Case Study - Charles Charles has been employed at Goodwill Engineering since 2008. He is 21 years of age and has cerebral palsy spastic quadriplegia. Charles uses a powered wheelchair for mobility. Charles’ cerebral palsy affects his arms and legs and he has limited use of his left hand and no use of his right Charles is non verbal and uses a communication device which is mounted to his wheelchair Charles has epilepsy – tonic clonic seizures

3. History Charles’ parents approached Goodwill Engineering in 2007 at the start of Charles’ final year in school. They explained that they had been told through the school assessment process that Charles was best suited to attend an Alternative to Employment program when he completed his schooling. But Charles told his parents he wanted to work.

4. Charles’ parents had heard of Goodwill Engineering and approached us. We agreed, if Charles’ wanted to work lets make it happen. So what did Goodwill Engineering do to make this possible for Charles • Identified all barriers that would stop Charles utilising his skills • Worked with Charles’ and Goodwill Engineering's Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists and Physiotherapists to develop strategies to overcome or reduce the barriers • Goodwill Engineering staff implemented the strategies

5. What we did Made a new mount for Charles’ communication device so he could access work stations and still communicate

6. What we did Occupational therapist and physiotherapist assessed Charles at different workstations to identify the changes/modifications and jigs that would be needed for him to access and operate machines whilst reducing safety risks

7. What we did Based on the assessment outcomes we developed and made a prototype machine that could be operated with limited fine motor skills and was highly accessible

8. What we did Reviewed prototype machine with Charles and therapists, fine tuned to overcome final barriers. Final machine was made.

9. Charles operating new accessible machine Who can use the new machines Employees with access and mobility issues Employees with limited fine motor skills/coordination 6 of these machines have now been made

10. Participating in work

11. Participating in work Handoperated Foot operated

12. How do we achieve high levels of workplace participation • Pre employment assessments by therapists OT, SP & PT for every new employee identifying skills and barriers prior to starting work • Each employee has an individual support profile developed from the therapy assessments to assist staff fully support them on the floor • When we assess an employee to work on a task we look for what the • person can do not what they can’t • We look for innovative ways to overcome barriers for employees to be • able to work on a number of tasks • We make machines that can be operated • by employees with high physical support needs • Prior to learning any task employees • are assessed by the OT

13. How do we achieve high levels of workplace participation • Training - on the job and formal • Balanced scorecard • KPI’s Safety – Welfare - Production

14. Thank you all for attending this presentation. If you have any questions please contact me on (08) 9249 3444 Phil.pitchers@goodwillengineering.com.au