Rail Network Alliance and Amir Brand-Abdi
Prior to his current role, as a Social Inclusion Coordinator at the Rail Network Alliance (RNA), Amir Brand-Abdi had completed more than 90 interviews and 117 job applications.
Through this extensive experience, he found that the traditional job application process was not easily accessible for him, because Amir is visually impaired.
Amir migrated to Australia in 2013 as a refugee from the Middle East, where he experienced extreme hardship due to his vision impairment. He spent time in immigration detention before being freed in late 2014 on a temporary visa. Amir worked with the social enterprise Dialogue in the Dark, showcasing his strengths as a vision-impaired person before he was employed with RNA on the Metro Tunnel Project, as Social Inclusion Coordinator.
He is also the co-chair and founder of John Holland’s Ability Group, an employee resource group established in 2022. The group is open to all John Holland employees and currently includes those who identify as living with a disability, allies and carers.
Amir set out to create this group to help create opportunities for people with disabilities and raise awareness of these opportunities for those who were looking. The Ability Group’s vision is ‘that all people, of all abilities, are recognised and valued to apply their unique knowledge, experience and skills at John Holland’.
The Ability Group meets regularly with all areas across John Holland, including relevant Projects and Alliances, to help organise morning teas, initiatives, education and training to ensure their vision is achieved through ever-evolving practices.
One of the more notable initiatives Amir has managed is the market stalls run by social enterprise, SisterWorks. The market stalls help to support this non-profit social enterprise and encourage RNA staff to purchase beautiful goods handcrafted by women with asylum seeker, refugee or migrant backgrounds.
All profits from these stalls help to support SisterWorks in improving confidence, mental well-being, sense of belonging and economic outlook for these women. Working alongside building management and the communications team at RNA, Amir has helped raise over $2,000 for SisterWorks.