Her & her job Sammy Milne, Chief Art Curator at The Upstairs Gallery (and Amelia’s boss)
When did you first start hiring Amelia? March 2020. I received an email with the most gorgeous picture of Amelia, how can one resist such a beautiful smile? Smart move! We set up a meeting and Amelia came in to speak with us. After meeting with Amelia and her parents it was very hard to find any reason why she could not join our tribe. What are her main duties with you? Amelia will help us with setting up for new installations once a month. She helps to pack down the artworks and gets them wrapped safely in bubble wrap. She will also help to write up all the price tags for the jewellery in our display cabinet. She will run some errands in the village by buying the milk for our coffee breaks and popping to the post shop to post off pieces that have been sold. Amelia will also man the desk when I need to pop out. This means that she greets visitors and makes sure that the gallery is safe while I am away for a few minutes. What does Amelia bring to Upstairs Gallery in terms of her skills/attributes? Amelia LOVES being in the gallery and is so wonderful with the visitors: friendly and chatty. She is so dedicated to any skill that she is tasked with and is great at asking for help when she is not sure of what to do. I love that she feels confident enough to ask for help. Amelia is hugely independent, she is a whizz with Auckland Transport, she knows exactly which train and bus to catch to any destination public transport scares me! She is also very reliable and considerate of letting us know if she is going to be away in advance. We absolutely love having Amelia as part of the gallery tribe. She is a ray of sunshine, with a cracking sense of humour and loves to be kept busy.
Have there been any challenges with her working there? I have had absolutely no challenges with Amelia working here at the gallery. Would you recommend hiring someone with Down syndrome? YES, YES, YES and YES! Amelia is so honest, and so REAL. In today’s world, where certain standards in beauty, the way we act, or how we should be are so unrealistic, it is humbling and grounding to have someone like Amelia. She makes us realise that ‘imperfection’, for want of a better word, is LIFE, nobody is perfect, we are all human and it’s ok to make mistakes and to be unique. Embrace your ‘weird’, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. Live, laugh, and love! What would you say to any employers who are nervous about hiring someone with Down syndrome or another intellectual disability? Patience is everything. We all need to slow down; let someone with a disability make you see how we should really be! I think it’s only because people are nervous of the unknown that they are reluctant to hire someone with Down syndrome or any disability. I have found that working with Amelia has made me a better person; it has taught me to be patient and to not take life so damn seriously.
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