Amy Ridley has advocated for herself all her life.
Diagnosed with the autoimmune condition panuveitis, Amy has navigated the world with minimal sight. She’s seen how others treat people with a disability and how isolating it can feel for those who can’t see. The 18-year-old is now taking her first steps to becoming a fully qualified legal advocate for her community as she embarks on her tertiary education.
Pretty much everyone with a disability faces some difficulty or discrimination at least once a week,” she said.
So I want to get involved with the sort of side of law and look at discrimination and the NDIS and all those sort of initiatives.”
Amy is in her first year of a double degree in Law and Business Administration at Macquarie University.
She is working hard to stand out in her large cohort, and with the help of Vision Australia’s 2021 Further Education Bursary, Amy has the technology she needs to keep up.
With the bursary she has received a Dynabook Portege computer and a QBraille XL machine which connects to the computer to feed out a braille display. It’s been particularly helpful for her proof reading.
Screen readers don’t tell you when things are italicised so it’s really hard to do proof reading for references,” she said.
So you use the QBralle XL to find the punctuation because you get marked for that in Law.”
The Vision Australia bursary helps lift the barriers that could otherwise prevent people who are blind or have low vision from following their chosen career paths.
Since 1996, the bursary has helped over 400 students achieve their dreams of tertiary study.