Robert Styling AFSM, OAM General Manager - Human Resources, cannot speak highly enough of the role the Phoenix Society plays in helping disabled people find employment and was honoured on Australia Day with an Australian Service Medal.
“Phoenix is all about arguing for services to improve the lifestyles of people with disabilities,” Mr Styling, 57, says. The Salisbury Heights resident has been a human-resources manager at the Phoenix Society for 24 years and is chairman of the National Committee on Australian Disability Enterprises. “My goal has always been to do as much as I can to help improve the future of our clients,” Mr Styling says. “People with disabilities should have all the same rights and benefits as you and I, and I have fought very hard for that over the years.” And this week, the father of three was recognised for his service to the disability sector - with the award of a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day Honours. “It was quite unexpected and out of the blue,” Mr Styling says. “It is quite humbling that someone I may or may not know thinks that what I have done is worth recognising. “My kids certainly made a big fuss out of it.” And while awards are nice, Mr Styling says it is the people he works with who keep him going to work each day. “Some of the things that have moved me appear so small and insignificant to someone outside of the sector,” he says. “But they are monumental to someone with a disability. “Seeing the smile on the face of someone who can now move into independent living or get a promotion makes it all worthwhile.”
To read the article in the Leader Messenger click here. Copy reproduced from the Leader Messenger Article, 1 February 2012