Volunteer work leads to job at DHB

Masterton's Emma Pike won't let her disability affect her career.

The 20-year-old was born with spina bifida and is paralysed from the waist down, so she uses a wheelchair to get around.

Miss Pike has been a part-time clerical assistant/receptionist in Allied Health for the Wairarapa District Health Board since July.

The job itself involves data entry and updating health records, as well as face-to-face contact with patients.

Although the former Chanel College student faces some challenges in the workplace, the hardest part of all was finding the opportunity for paid work.

Miss Pike has volunteered with many organisations in the region - and continues to do so at the Wairarapa Free Budget Advisory Service - and attributes this to helping her land the job. She also volunteers in the rehabilitation ward of the hospital and helps patients with their day programmes.

The Wairarapa Stars Trust, which supports young disabled people in the transition from school to work, and the DHB got together and decided to offer her the job after she had been volunteering.

"The opportunity to be working at the DHB was a really amazing opportunity to be given," she said.

Miss Pike said she was able to fit into the workplace easily, but there were still many places where services for people with disabilities could be improved.

"They think they're accessible but they don't have a person in a chair who uses it," she said. "The DHB's really accessible so it's a really good environment to be working in."

Although she may have the right tools for the job, she does face some difficulty with a small minority of people. "I'll be sitting at the reception desk and they'll come up and they're looking for someone else to talk to."

Miss Pike believes services for those with disabilities will improve in future. "The generations coming up will have more awareness, hopefully."