IT would be hard if not impossible to find someone who has done more for people with disabilities that Deborah Verdon.<\/p>\n
Throughout the region, Deb is known as a fearless warrior defending the rights of and fighting for better outcomes for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
But after almost 23 years as the Executive Officer of Grampians disAbility Advocacy, the time has come to move on.<\/p>\n
This week, colleagues and friends gathered at Ararat RSL to mark the retirement of Deb Verdon.<\/p>\n
She told the Ararat Advocate it had been an amazing job which can deliver positive results and change lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful industry to work in, the human services field. In disability you do see a lot of disadvantaged and marginalised people who need a lot of help and support, often more than our society provides for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very rewarding job as well because you can make a real difference in someone\u2019s life and we see that on a daily basis I suppose and you feel like you are doing more good than not.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be quite life changing. Even just a simple thing like helping somebody to access a disability support pension can be a life changing thing for some people. It can be a small thing for us because we\u2019re in a privileged position but for other people when life is pretty much a daily struggle it is very gratifying to help them make a difference to their situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Deb said her small team grew over the years as well as the areas the organisation covered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I began I was pretty much the only full time advocate and back then we were known as Ararat and Stawell Advocacy services. Over time there was greater acknowledgement of the importance of advocacy and the human rights of people with disabilities and further grants were made available so over the 22 and a half years we have grown from a staff of one to a staff of 14,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started in the role it was just Ararat and Stawell we serviced and now we\u2019re across 11 local government areas from Bacchus Marsh to the South Australian border. The growth has been astounding and I feel honoured to have been a part of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Deb said one of her most pleasing moments was the decision to fund better disability access at Ballarat Railway Station.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been involved in a long running campaign improving access at Ballarat Railway Station and finally getting the funding approved in the last state budget was really rewarding because there has been seven years of work put into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason that is so significant is because of the number of people that we know it will make a difference to, well into the future as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Deb said the world has changed a lot in 22 years and there have been significant improvements for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cChange is happening. There are certain personalities we see in the media these day, I could mention Kurt Fearnley and Dylan Alcott and the ABC has some fantastic reporters who have disabilities. We need to be seeing people with disabilities in those roles so that it\u2019s not such a big deal in the future when we do see a person with a disability achieving at a high level,\u201d Deb said.<\/p>\n
Partnership and Projects Manager at Grampians disAbility Advocacy Carol Starkey said Deb Verdon\u2019s contribution to the disability sector is immeasurable.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeb is just phenomenal. She is one of those quiet achievers. Someone the other day, Judy Smith, described her as an iron fist in a velvet glove and I think it is very true,\u201d Ms Starkey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeb goes in, she sees what needs to be done and she keeps pushing, and she keeps pushing.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s always got a human rights focus on everything ensuring people are getting what then need and deserve and she does it with the most amazing compassion and humility as well,\u201d Mr Starkey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeb has a really unique ability to bring people forward with warmth and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot replace almost 23 years of knowledge, history and understanding too easily,\u201d Ms Starkey said.<\/p>\n
Grampians disability Advocacy recently announced Roy Reekie as the new Executive Officer of the organisation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IT would be hard if not impossible to find someone who has done more for people with disabilities that Deborah Verdon.
\nThroughout the region, Deb is known as a fearless warrior defending the rights of and fighting for better outcomes for people with disabilities.
\nBut after almost 23 years as the Executive Officer of Grampians disAbility Advocacy, the time has come to move on.
\nThis week, colleagues and friends gathered at Ararat RSL to mark the retirement of Deb Verdon.
\nShe told the Ararat Advocate it had been an amazing job which can deliver positive results and change lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"class_list":["post-1999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/verdon.jpg?fit=1280%2C864&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-wf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}