This is a powerful, well-written article by a gifted leader who would make a great CEO of Vision Australia herself if she wanted the role.
She has inspired me to talk more openly about my own experience.
It is tempting for leaders with the experience for these roles to bite their tongue and think that things will surely be better next time. But our silence is bought with the promise of a tomorrow that never comes.
The time has come for us to take on these agencies, and I do wonder if one way to do that is for a group of us to get together and take it to the United Nations under the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.
I applied for the Blind Low Vision NZ CEO role last year. I did so with compelling credentials. I am a former Board chair and senior manager of that organisation, I have CEO experience in a national disability service provider. I am internationally recognised as a leader in the blind community and have an in-depth knowledge of this sector. I’m considered an expert in the critical area of technology as it effects blind people, an area which is transforming our lives and has the potential to do so much more.
I was not successful. Instead, a sighted person was appointed with no knowledge of blindness or the sector. Yet another opportunity was lost to stop the steady erosion of blindness services. A chance was missed to send a signal to the community, and particularly to younger blind people, that blind people can and do lead. Yet more damage was done to the organisation's moral authority. After all, how can you possibly champion blind people as attractive employment prospects when you won't even walk your own talk and appoint a blind person yourself to lead the organisation? Indeed, until recently, for some considerable time there were 0 blind people on Blind Low Vision NZ's Executive Leadership Team.
New Zealand’s situation is very similar to the Australian situation so clearly summarised by Emma. We also have a Board Chair with consumer credentials who has discarded the values that got him there.
When I highlighted this issue far less forcefully at the time it happened to me, some accused me of sour grapes. So let me be clear. I would have been delighted if a qualified blind candidate from anywhere in the world had been given the role. This is about a principle that, in not speaking up for it, is costing blind New Zealanders dearly in terms of service quality.
This is happening all over the world, and it has to stop. Do people for a moment think that if an organisation dedicated to serving women had been led by a succession of men for five years let alone a hundred years, there wouldn’t be a huge outcry? Nor would, or should, members of ethnic minorities tolerate organisations serving them being led by someone who doesn’t know how it truly is to face their challenges first-hand. It wouldn't be right for them, and it is not right for us.
Enough is enough. Change only starts when the silence stops. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/missed-opportunity-empower-blind-leadership-emma-bennison-mba-gaicd-tkerc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via
