WORKING from home would be nirvana for many ordinary people, but Wendy Crawford is no ordinary person.

She works from home but it is not by choice; it is by necessity.

Crawford uses a wheelchair. She has an incurable and undiagnosed disease that causes chronic muscular pain, exhaustion and migraines.

For years she sought a cure, but now has given up trying. Doctors cannot diagnose her disease and though it appears similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, that has been ruled out.

Yet Crawford puts her disability aside to run the labour hire firm Peopleworks, which has more than 100 workers on it books.

The firm has contracts to provide workers to clean nine university and TAFE campuses and supplies workers for cleaning jobs in rural Victoria.

Some of those on Crawford's books also suffer disabilities, ranging from hearing impairment/deafness to learning disabilities and people suffering mental disorders.

''It is my own personal philosophy to help people with disabilities obtain some employment,'' Crawford says.

''The effect on their self-esteem is tremendous -- even a half-day of work a week can change people's lives.

''When I went back to work (after the illness struck 20 years ago) it was on a voluntary basis and it was for one hour a week.

''Then it became one hour three times a week, then one hour four times a week.''

WITHIN 12 months Crawford was working four days a week full-time.

Her labour hire firm has been operating since 1999, at first in rural Victoria. Crawford moved from South Gippsland after her husband, Roger, died from an undiagnosed illness in 1998.

''It has always been part of my personal charter to help disabled workers,'' she says.

''We handle some very large cleaning contracts in country Victoria and we employ a lot of people with disabilities. We start them off on a half-hour to one hour a day to see how much they can handle and if they can handle more then they get more work.''

The workers who can handle more often move on to permanent positions in the general workforce.

Crawford herself is on modulated hours. She starts at nine and works through until noon. Then she needs a three-hour respite before returning to her office and finishing at five.

During her absence Crawford has three people working part-time to manage the business.

''I need these breaks as part of managing my condition,'' she says.

Crawford says she has a very powerful reason to keep working.

''I don't want to sound self-pitying, but I do it to live,'' she says. ''If I keep my mind busy I don't have time to think about the position I'm in. I really do do it so I can live.''

It makes good business sense to employ people with disabilities.

''I use the network of supported employment agencies across Victoria and all people who apply for one of our jobs have been hand-picked for the position by their case manager,'' she says.

''They also receive on-site training and support from their case manager or trainer for their job.

''All this is at no cost to the employer because the (employment) agency receives government funding.''

Crawford shares her office with colleague Renee Hauff, whose company, Extend Abilities, sells wooden toys to the education market through mail order and the internet.

Crawford says she finds it fairly easy to find workers, except around Frankston.

''We are always looking for workers from the Frankston area,'' she says.

Peopleworks, ph: 9754 2424
www.peopleworks.com.au

Caption:  Labour intensive: Wendy Crawford in her home office.
Illus:  Photo
IllusBy:  NORM OORLOFF
Section:  CAREERONE
Type:  Cover story

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