After 15 years focused on improving the school-to-work transition for young people with disability, I am moving on from BSL. (though I probably won't go far from endeavours that benefit people with disability and their communities through system change).
After 15 years focused on improving the school-to-work transition for young people with disability, I am moving on from BSL. (though I probably won't go far from endeavours that benefit people with disability and their communities through system change).
So, as I look back, please indulge me as I share some of my learnings and experience.
I have seen Ticket to Work go through four organisations since its inception as we grew and changed direction (DHHS, BGKLLEN, NDS and now at BSL). I have been blessed with people seeing the value and championing the ambition; there has been tremendous goodwill.
In 2005 my son Jeremy was born with Down syndrome.
My first gig after my sons were born was supporting a boutique consulting firm on a project looking at pathways planning for students with disability funded through the Victorian Government.
Through interviewing school staff and others, I got a glimpse of what Jeremy's life could look like if things did not change. The rapid review of the research showed clearly ‘what works’ for young people with intellectual disability in their journey from school to valued work. It also showed that decisions I made as a parent early in Jeremy’s life would have a dramatic effect on his life opportunities.
One thing that still stands out from that consulting gig was the number of teachers referring to students with Down syndrome as a collective noun.
'The Downs go to this day service’, they would say.
It was clear that the expectation that I had for baby Jeremy’s life was not the same as these teachers'.
I questioned why, when we know what works in pathways planning and career development for students with disability, this practice wasn’t happening in Australia (yet it was in other countries).
Young people with disability should have access to transition supports or services that utilise this evidence in their design.
These teachers were lovely people who wanted to do right by their students, yet systems, services, and mindsets kept things from changing. They needed support to do things differently. So, we set Ticket to Work up as an enabler of change to support evidence-based practice in communities, with the ambition of system change.
We would 'think typical', that is ask ourselves 'how would a young person (without disability) at this stage of life achieve this goal’? This helped us stay focused on building the capacity of mainstream pathways to work for young people with extensive support needs.
So, in a flood of naivety and enthusiasm for change, a grassroots movement started. We peaked with 330 members, including 261 schools across 31 communities, that were committed to doing things differently. Over 3,000 students with disability and 2,000 employers got a different experience than ‘business as usual’, and over 1,700 first jobs were created; yet that was not our aim. We aimed to show a different way that honoured young people's aspirations and capabilities.
Michelle with basketballer Julian at Ticket to Work event in 2018 to celebrate achieving 1000 first jobs and launch the after school job initiative.
No single part of the system or individual service to support young people in their community transition from school to work can survive or thrive without a myriad of interactions with other parts. They are entirely interdependent, yet young people experience transition in silos with gaps and duplication. We found that services, systems and their resources are often wired for their own purposes and can “entrap” young people in services that do not work for them or in a “system” that views them as broken.
Our solution was to set up local impact networks. By working collaboratively, you can use those systems and its resources in a way that empowers individual student journeys. We braided and sequenced resources from systems and services in the local community, we developed trust, communication and a local impact that was responsive to individual young people with disability in a way that they want to live in their community.
The results were significant, the investment small. When we encountered unknowns or challenges, we would collectively find solutions, or pilot new approaches and advocate for change. Often, when we would get it “right”, things would change; eg eligibility for programs, services defunded, and we would go back to the drawing board to ensure that systems worked for young people and their communities.
I look back now and have a mix of extreme pride and also cringe at my naivety and some of my clumsy efforts. I leave BSL with the confidence that the aim for change is still very strong and that I leave behind a body of research, evidence-based guides, tools and stories to encourage greater aspirations.
It has been a fabulous journey, one that has been difficult, but one full of joy and hope. I want to thank the communities, network members, host organisation, investors, colleagues, mentors and encouragers, researchers and of course the young people and their families who were brave and wanted different life outcomes for themselves and their loved ones.
Michelle speaks on panel at Inclusive Pathways to Employment Community of Policy and Practice Conference, May 2025
Find more information about evidence-based practice and Ticket to Work.
See our 10-year history prior to evolving into the National Collaboration on Employment and Disability.
To keep in contact, connect with me on LinkedIn.
