Disabilities no barrier for employees

Jana Neynens has worked alongside people with a range of disabilities for years and knows how hard it is for many of them to find work, so she has created a social-enterprise gardening business to employ them herself.

Able Gardeners aims to provide work for as little as an hour or two a week for people with disabilities to give them an opportunity to work, get some training, and potentially prepare them for work elsewhere. As her flier says, she wants to improve the lives of her staff as well as improve gardens.

“People with disabilities want to be part of society and pay their way. If they can come and do an hour, that’s fine. It’s all about having a job because that’s so important.”

Jana trained in special needs education in Germany before moving to New Zealand and has worked with many young people trying to get work experience, so knows the challenges.

“I find, having been in the sector for a while and trying to find work experience, it’s not necessarily that there’s no work, but people don’t know how to work with people with disabilities. So I thought, I’m going to be an employer.”

She bought a lawnmower, some gardening tools and a van, then hired her first employee, 29-year-old Wade Glover. He had worked for nine years in Richmond’s Fresh Choice until it closed and has been looking for work ever since.

“I want to work but it was hard to find work. I did a lot of volunteering. I enjoy the gardening,” he says.  

Jana says the Ministry of Social Development will help subsidise the wages for a while and her goal is to give employees skills such as lawn mowing, gardening, weed eating and basic horticulture knowledge.

She already has a few people with disabilities lined up for work and wants to put the word out to others who think they would like to give gardening a go.

Every disability is different and Jana says gardens have jobs to suit everyone, especially if the garden owner understands the challenges. Some employees may be able to carry out a job with their support worker.

“I’m good at making it possible for people with barriers! I don’t want to exclude anyone. If someone thinks they can be an asset to us, give us a call.”

She now needs gardens for her future employees to tend. She intends working alongside an employee, with one hourly rate charge to enable her to pay wages.

“I’d like to think it may help other employers be a bit more open to employing people with disabilities. I’d like to spread the idea that they are an asset. They will never call in sick and will always say yes to work! All Wade needs is to know what needs to be done and a little bit of repetition.”

Able Gardeners can be contacted at [email protected]