WATCHING a person with a disability grow in confidence, is just one of the reasons Gayle Anderson loves her job.
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An eight year veteran with ACES - Access Community Educational Services - Mrs Anderson is employed as a support work and a person-centred planner.
"My role is to source a program that matches the needs of our service users," she said.
"They may want to do a cooking course, learn some life skills, attend education activities or learn how to gain better access to their community ... we have a whole host of groups that we can provide activities for.
"The second part of the role is to monitor how those service users are going as the program progresses to ensure it is working for service users.
"It is an amazing industry to work within. Everybody just grows through the courses. I love seeing people happy and achieving - we have plenty of success stories."
ACES provides a trial period for services users to access their programs and then decide if they would like to continue.
"It's a bit like a taste tester," she said.
Mrs Anderson is part of an industry expecting a boom period of employment with the project manager of carecareers, Mike Field, predicting the rollout of NDIS to drive demand.
"More than 305 new jobs will be created in the disability sector in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area over the next five years, according to the new figure released by the National Disability insurance Scheme (NDIS)," Mr Field said.
"Nationally, it is expected the number of people working in disability care will double from about 70,000 today by 2020, when the scheme will allow people with disability to have a greater say in their own support."
Mr Field said the boom will be powered by demographics and the NDIS - and it will drive demand for a more diverse range of jobs than people usually expect.
"The disability sector offers the kind of flexibility, support and job satisfaction that many people are now looking for in a fulfilling career," Mr Field said.
"The disability sector offers a broad range of career choices, from speech pathologists and occupational therapists to drivers, gardeners and IT professionals."
Mrs Anderson said ACES currently boasts about 50 staff members.
To be successful, she says potential employees need to be passionate and compassionate, be willing to have fun and be patient.
"It is a very rewarding industry," Mrs Anderson said.
peter.daniels@fairfaxmedia.com.au
