Aussie bosses won’t give Kiwi vet a fair go
Amputee says wheelchair puts employers off. By Kim Quinlan.
TVNZ presenter Melissa Stokes has shared the rollercoaster of sadness, fear and hope that followed her mother’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Stokes began writing a diary to cope with learning her mum Gill had been diagnosed with lung cancer last year.
Hearing the devastating news at work that doctors had found a 4cm tumour on her mother’s lung, Stokes wrote that she felt herself ‘‘kind of dissolve’’.
‘‘My friend Claire sees me in distress and fast-walks me out of the newsroom. Mum’s going to die and I’m causing a scene at work. How embarrassing.
‘‘There’s no doubt about it, it’s one of those moments where life really does change in an instant.’’
Stokes describes going to the hospital to visit her mother with her father, husband, and two young sons, and the enormity of the situation hits.
‘‘I burst into tears, telling Mum we still need her. She tells me I might need to get a granny flat for Dad. Always practical.’’
As the weeks go by, Stokes learns more about the battle her mother is facing.
‘‘Lymph node affected, the tumour is pushing on her heart and worst of all, there are lesions on her spine.
‘‘There will be no cutting it out. It’s inoperable. I stupidly ask the specialist how bad it is. A former New Zealand soldier who lost both legs in a workplace accident says he is being discriminated against while trying to find work in Australia.
Owen Telford is trying to return to the workforce after raising his family, but says he often gets turned away by prospective employers when they see he’s in a wheelchair.
‘‘Every day I’m reminded I’m disabled. Not allowing me an opportunity to show what I can do is a punch in the guts.
‘‘I know I’m disabled, but being knocked back for jobs I know I can do makes me feel more disabled,’’ he said from his home in Haddon, 130km east of Melbourne.
Telford, who grew up in South Read Melissa’s diary on stuff.co.nz With 1 being the best and 10 the worst, it’s an 8-10.
‘‘In a couple of weeks Mum’s gone from having stage 2 cancer to stage 4 and don’t think Dad and I haven’t been Googling the life expectancies of each stage.’’
Doctors prescribe a treatment of drugs which produce some nasty sideeffects.
She knows her mum will never be cured, but can only hope to keep the cancer in check. They learn it’s a mutation that affects mainly non-smoking Asian women.
‘‘She’ll be on this drug until that bastard tumour works out how to get around the medication and starts growing again.’’
Then, after several months, a ray of good news.
‘‘The cancer at last check had shrunk by half – take that! For now the anti-anxiety meds are at the back of the cupboard and we are all trying to eat this elephant one bite at a time.’’ Otago before moving to Hawkes Bay, served with the New Zealand army as a chef for nearly nine years.
After leaving the army, he moved to Australia where many of his family and military friends were living.
In 2001, Telford was dragged into a trenching machine while FAIRFAX working on a roading project at Rockbank, on the outskirts of Melbourne.
He completely lost his left leg, and his right leg was amputated below the knee. He now has a prosthetic limb on his right leg, which he uses to manoeuvre around while in the wheelchair.
The 53-year-old hasn’t let his disability slow him down.
He drives a car; can use a Bobcat and ride-on lawnmower; does all the cooking at home; established and maintains gardens and lawns on his 8-hectare property; cuts wood for the family fireplaces; built decking around his dam; constructed a fully-lined gymnasium for his wife, Ali; produces stunning leadlight windows; and plays wheelchair basketball once a week.
‘‘At the end of the day, I try to do as much as I can. I’ll give anything a go, it’s just some things may take a little bit longer,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m strong, fit, healthy, reliable and hardworking, but I hit a brick wall once people see the wheelchair. They see the disability, rather than the ability. I’ve only got one (prosthetic) foot and I can’t even get that in the door,’’ Telford said.
‘‘I just want to be given a go, put me on a trial period for a few weeks.’’
Telford’s family and friends constantly tell him how much of an inspiration he is, but he doesn’t see himself as one. ‘‘There is always someone worse off than me.’’
The Australian Fair Work Ombudsman said under the Fair Work Act 2009, it was unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee or prospective employee on the basis of physical disability.
‘‘Unlawful adverse action can include not hiring someone, and offering a potential employee different and unfair terms and conditions for the job compared to other employees,’’ said a spokesperson for the Ombudsman.
Since Telford’s story ran in the Ballarat Courier last week, he has received several employment offers. He’s hopeful of finding a job soon.