Op-ed by Emma Bennison - Missed Opportunity to Empower Blind Leadership
Leadership should reflect the diversity of the community it serves. This principle, recently reinforced by Australia's Disability Royal Commission, is as relevant as ever in the blindness and vision-impaired community. Yet Vision Australia, the nation's largest provider of services to people who are blind or vision-impaired, seems to be ignoring this vital tenet.
In a move that has ignited outrage within the blind community across the world, Vision Australia's board decided to appoint its next CEO through an internal expression of interest process—bypassing external candidates and effectively excluding qualified blind leaders from consideration. For a community where only 24% of blind Australians are in full-time employment, this decision is more than a disappointment; it is a betrayal of the very values the organisation claims to uphold.
As one of the 34 prominent blind leaders who signed an open letter to Vision Australia's board, I find this exclusion incomprehensible. The public version of our letter, circulated just three days ago, has already attracted over 400 signatures. But the outcry isn’t just about the process—it’s about missed opportunities for inclusion, empowerment, and authentic representation.
For decades, blind Australians have fought against stereotypes that question our ability to lead. We know that the challenges we face in finding employment, let alone leadership positions, aren’t due to a lack of ability but rather systemic barriers and ingrained misconceptions. For Vision Australia, an organisation that should be at the forefront of challenging these barriers, to sidestep the opportunity to appoint a blind CEO sends a disheartening message: that even within organisations that exist to serve us, we are not considered capable of leading.
This decision is particularly perplexing given Vision Australia's history. The organisation was once led by people who championed blind leadership and its current chair, Bill Jolley has been a highly respected and effective advocate. I witnessed this firsthand when I was president of Blind Citizens Australia, working to revitalise our leadership pipeline. Bill was an outspoken advocate for fostering blind leaders, reminding us time and again of the importance of representation at the highest levels, particularly within blindness organisations. Under his influence, we created executive leadership programs and established the Hugh Jeffrey scholarships, supporting blind Australians with tertiary education costs.
But somewhere along the way, Vision Australia's commitment to empowering its own community appears to have faltered. The decision to limit the CEO selection process internally suggests a preference for maintaining the status quo rather than seizing the opportunity to challenge outdated perceptions. It shows a reluctance to demonstrate that blind people can be effective leaders at the helm of major organisations. This is not just a missed opportunity for Vision Australia—it is a damaging blow to the confidence of emerging blind leaders who see a glass ceiling still firmly in place.
Some may argue that the appointment of a blind CEO could be viewed as tokenism. But this line of thinking only perpetuates the very stereotypes we need to dismantle. The solution is not to exclude qualified candidates who are blind but to ensure that blind people are evaluated on their merit, experience, and vision, just as sighted candidates are. Appointing a blind CEO would send a powerful message to employers across the country about the potential of disability leadership, serving as a beacon of hope and possibility for all people with disability seeking leadership roles.
In 2019, the World Blind Union reported that blind Australians are significantly underrepresented in the workforce, lagging behind New Zealand and Canada. Given these challenges, the few leadership opportunities that do arise should not be so easily closed off to us. Vision Australia has an extraordinary opportunity to be a leader in changing this narrative. By reconsidering their decision and opening the CEO role to external candidates, including those who are blind or vision-impaired, they could make history by appointing their first blind CEO—a legacy that would resonate for generations.
At its core, this debate is about more than just a hiring process; it's about who we are as a community and how we see our future. Vision Australia has a chance to reflect the diversity it serves and stand as a powerful example of what true inclusion looks like. The question is: will they take it?
For the sake of the blind leaders who follow and the many thousands of blind and vision impaired people they serve, I certainly hope they do.
Emma Bennison MBA GAICD is the Chief Innovation Officer at Life Without Barriers and a former President and CEO of Blind Citizens Australia.
To learn more and show your support, visit https://www.change.org/unitedblindleaders