Loss of sight triggers career change into support role

Kingsley Sivewright at the Blind Foundation Napier

Visually impaired, Kingsley Sivewright speaks from experience in stressing how important attitude is for people with disabilities to achieve their goals.

Kingsley was in his 40s when he started losing sight in his left eye. Five years ago, when the right eye was also affected, he recognised that he could no longer continue working safely as a farm manager in Central Hawke's Bay.

"It was just one of those things that happen. I remember it happening when I was crutching sheep.

"I definitely had to work my way through it mentally," he says of his significantly reduced vision. "Here I was faced with the need for a career change but unable to tick the experience box with other jobs I was interested in."

Having worked through his options with EIT careers counsellor Eddie Carson, he enrolled in the School of Business, with lecturers and the Blind Foundation helping to support his studies.

Kingsley gained a diploma in business and then, with some cross-crediting, a diploma in applied business (accounting) in 2015.

"What enabled me to do that was the support of EIT's disability office, which assigned me a reader-writer to read notes from the whiteboard and take notes.

"I was also granted extra time in sitting exams, with EIT assigning someone to help read questions and sometimes write answers while still upholding the integrity of the academic process."

While still studying, he was invited to apply for the John Harre award, which commemorates the institute's first principal.

Worth $3000, the annual award helps a student with a disability progress from study at EIT into employment. Backed by his lecturers, Kingsley's application was successful and he opted to use his grant to gain work experience that related to his chosen career direction.

"It was a way of addressing the need of potential employers for relevant job experience," he points out.

He was employed by EIT's information and learning service as a funding co-ordinator to assist other students with disabilities pursue their own educational goals.

Subsequently employed for 10 hours a week, Kingsley volunteered the extra time to make it a fulltime job for the next 12 months.

In March, he was appointed to the position of administrator for the Blind Foundation Napier.

Loving that his role enables him to help people in situations similar to his own, he stresses that the issue is disabilities, not the type of disability, and that attitude is all-important.

"A person may not be able to do anything about a disability," he says, "but it doesn't have to be a noose around your neck. I don't believe in highlighting the disability. It's more about having the right attitude.

"If you spend time focusing on what you can do and what you want to do, it makes it easier for yourself and easier for those around you. They can then work out ways to help you.

"EIT and the Blind Foundation helped me achieve my end goal which was to get into employment. The process for going through that meant I had to retrain. That's where EIT and the Blind Foundation came on board."