A leadership course aimed at empowering our disabled community members will come to Bunbury in October 2021.
In a first for Western Australia, 30 Foot Drop's 'Empowered Leadership' course will run from October 18 to 29.
The course was created to help alter 'low societal expectations' on disabled people working professionally in the community and progressing into leadership roles.
30 Foot Drop founder and systemic advocate Ben Aldridge said the course was the first of it's kind to be developed by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities.
"Marian Wright Edelman said 'You can't be, what you can't see' and it's so true. As a disabled person in the workplace there's no implied path you can travel. Very rarely can the disabled look at the hierarchy in politics or business and see anyone they can relate to," Mr Aldridge said.
"So many disabled people miss out on the opportunity to develop their leadership potential because there's a societal assumption that they will never be able to use it. That's why this course focuses on personal leadership."
This is about creating change, but in order to create that change we need more advocates, and in order to get more advocates we need to train. That is what this course is about.
- 30 Foot Drop founder Ben Aldridge
Mr Aldridge became a quadriplegic at 22-years-old after an 'alcohol assisted gravity accident' that resulted in him falling ten metres (30 feet) off of The Cut in Townsville.
Wheelchair bound, the injury to his spinal cord resulted in Mr Aldridge's loss of feeling from his armpits down, with limited movement remaining in his biceps, forearms and shoulders.
He said his life up until the accident had been 'fairly typical', with not much thought going towards his future or the community.
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"It all came crashing down and it then took me about five years to get my head around everything. But when I started working, I quickly found myself angry about the ignorance in society around disability," Mr Aldridge said.
"I was overlooked, talked down to and found it hard to get a job because people didn't understand what I could or couldn't do."
Mr Aldridge started his company 30 Foot Drop shortly after, with the goal of making 'lasting change' for those who identify with having a disability.
The Empowered Leadership course as part of 30 Foot Drop is aimed at filling a void of the disabled missing out on opportunities to develop their leadership skills.
Mr Aldridge said there was also strong emphasis on developing storytelling skills in the course.
"Storytelling is a skill so often overlooked in leadership, but it's so important because it's how you can get a message across.
"People wouldn't usually get to understand what it's like to be patted on the head like a dog or pushed in your wheelchair when you don't want or need to be pushed. Storytelling can help convey that experience," Mr Aldridge said.
30 Foot Drop's Empowered Leadership course is free to attend and will come to Bunbury this month before continuing in Mandurah, Geraldton, Merridan, Kalgoorlie, Perth, Carnarvon and Busselton.
The online component of the course on personal leadership will commence on October 18, with the face-to-face workshop on storytelling taking place in the Bunbury Enable training room from October 26 to 28.
"This is about creating change for the disabled in society, but in order to create that change we need more advocates, and in order to get more advocates we need to train. That is what this course is about."
For more information and to apply, visit https://www.30footdrop.com.au/leadership/course-dates-and-information/.