Simon's story

Simon is an Indigenous young man of 25 years old. He lives in a small town in regional Australia, together with his sister Martha, and they are both on Centrelink benefits.

Simon experienced significant learning difficulties and struggled to finish high school: despite having other talents, he attained his high school certificate at the age of 20.

After completing his studies, he applied for various positions in different fields with little luck, and eventually went into the New-Start Allowance (unemployment benefits) program. Despite the numerous job applications submitted over the years, Simon only secured two positions as fill-in for a couple of months.

In the last five years, his main occupation has been working part-time as a carer for a close relative, who is on a disability pension.

After years of knock-backs from potential employers, Simon got extremely frustrated and has applied for fewer and fewer jobs.

In 2009 Simon participated, together with his sister, in WorkVentures’ iGetIT! program: they learnt a lot about computer usage and maintenance, gained some useful IT technical skills but especially raised their confidence and self-esteem.

After successfully completing the course, Simon was rewarded by keeping the computer used during the course.

Confident about his capabilities and skills, Simon is now working with his sister Martha on a small business idea focused on Indigenous traditional painting and artwork. Simon is learning how to design a web site to advertise the initiative and expand their customer base. His hope is to see this initiative turning into a successful business model and to get off Centrelink support before too long.

Please note some details in this story have been altered to preserve privacy.