Every person has a dream unique to them, and Nathan has been living his. This has been possible for Nathan because his family started with a vision for his life that did not put limits on what could be possible for him.
As Nathan grew older, he explored interests like film and attended a mainstream school, taking part in work experience. He was able to develop a sense of who he was and his preferences –just like his brothers.
Nathan has had the opportunity to succeed and to fail – to learn where his strengths are and to build on those. His presentation shared insights into his employment journey, what all these experiences have brought to Nathan, and how each has led to other opportunities and considerations.
Nathan also spoke about how having a clear vision has made it possible for him to live the dream and the endless employment possibilities this has led to.
This video was recorded during our Opening Opportunities conference in 2023.
Transcription
When I was born, there were low expectations of me. The delivering doctor said to my parents, I think your baby has Down syndrome. You have three options. You can institutionalise him, adopt him out, or take him home.
How is it that someone can categorise a life like that?
This is my Mum, Dad, and I, and I bet you’re thinking, “Oh, what an adorable baby.”
My parents just made a pact to do everything they could do to make my life as ordinary as possible. And by them choosing option 3, take him home, has changed my life and has enabled me to live a life full of potential.
Every person has a dream unique to them, and I’m living mine. This has been possible for me because my family started with a vision for my life that did not put limits on what could be possible for me.
I am on the way to realising my potential. The vision that was held for me by my family from birth was to live a life full of the same opportunities as my two younger brothers. This is a few pics of me with my younger brothers and a couple of cousins thrown in.
And here I am doing surf lifesaving. As you can see, the board is bigger than me, and I am struggling a bit. But it didn’t stop me. I just kept picturing David Hasselhoff from Baywatch. And the motivation paid off.
But it wasn’t always easy, irrespective of the vision that my Mum and my Dad had for me. So let me talk about the struggles.
Because I was born with a label, Down Syndrome, people immediately assumed a low expectation for me and of me. Here are some examples. Comments were actually made by principals at that time to my parents when trying to find a school for me to attend.
One local public school head said, “I’ll have to see how our parent body would feel about having a child like Nathan at the school.” As you can imagine, it didn’t take long to take that school off the list. The kid with Down Syndrome… forget the fact that I have a name.
A parish school principal said, “We have a lot of gifted and talented students at our school. He will be best suited to the other Catholic school in our area.” Another one off the list!
They see me in my kindergarten photo. In case you can’t find me. I’m the cutest kid there. I’m the one with the glasses.
There were other comments from people like, “He’ll never learn maths. ‘They’ never do.”
Or, “He’ll never get a job. ‘They’ never do.”
And my favourite, “He’ll never have a sense of humour as that requires intellect.”
So, to that doctor, I say, ‘Look who’s laughing now.’
So, although I am laughing now, let me assure you that, for people with disabilities, this fixed mindset of others is no laughing matter. I see the biggest challenge of all has been that historically, society has held certain beliefs, or shall I say, a fixed mindset, when it comes to people with disability.
For example, that people with disability have had nothing to offer society. A belief that people with disability could only have friends who also has a disability. That people with disability should be grouped together based on their label.
At one point, I had to say to my mother, “Stop clumping me with people based on my perceived ability. Just let me be me in the world.”
When I was in my teens, I was a bit of a nerd, but with a group mindset of being a jock, just like most of the boys in my year.
I didn’t want to end up old, bald and fat and still living at home with my parents. I wanted to move out of home, get fit, and end up on the front cover of Men’s Health magazine.
Throughout my life. I have continued to challenge these fixed mindsets. Growing up, I did ordinary, typical things, such as attending a mainstream primary and high school, having a job, attending university, being a filmmaker, travelling the world, having friends, living in my own home, and all the other ordinary, everyday things we all do.
While still at school, I started work experience like the other boys in my class. My first job was in a department store, and can you guess what I was doing? I was hanging ladies’ underwear! Now, while at the time, I didn’t mind it at all, my mum didn’t think it was appropriate for a teenage boy, and I knew that this was not the type of work that was best suited to me.
My parents and I wanted something more suitable. We decided to be more proactive in the future. At the time, my parents asked me, “What do you enjoy doing the most? What are you passionate about? What would be a good fit at the age of nearly 17?”
Well, I’m really passionate about film. So my mum made a phone call to our local Video Ezy store, told them about my love of film, and simply asked the owner if I could do some work experience. I commenced work experience Thursday afternoons after school. I enjoyed this time, and I learned many skills. I was good at this job. However, it was highly likely that there would be no long-term future in this type of role.
So, my parents and I discussed where we would like to see me long-term. My mum thought corporate, wearing a suit, in the city, the big end of town – what a wonderful dream – or so she thought. My mum had remembered a conversation she had with a friend’s husband. He had previously worked with a person with disability, and he spoke very favourably about that experience and how much the employee was respected and valued in the workplace.
That’s what we wanted: employment where I would be respected and be a contributing and valued employee. So my Mum made her second phone call. The request was approved by the company’s CEO and supported by my school.
So, over an 18-month period, I worked at the major global financial services and wealth management firm, Morgan Stanley. I was an office assistant and undertook tasks such as sorting the mail, the mail run, refilling photocopiers with paper, checking security bins, and deliveries over the company’s four floors. This was the big end of town, and the feedback we received was that they loved having me around, and my parents loved me being there.
As you can imagine, my parents were feeling quite self-satisfied. But when it came toward the end of my year 12 schooling, my mentor and supervisor at work called me in for my weekly update meeting and said, “Well, Nathan, you’re nearing the end of your schooling. What do you see yourself doing? Do you see yourself working here?”
“Oh no,” I replied. “This is just work experience. I want to work with celebrities.”
When my supervisor told my Mum, “Well, Jo, Nathan doesn’t want to work here. He wants to work with celebrities.” Let me tell you, I think there’s a small part of her that wanted to grab me by the throat.
However, she must have taken one of her deep yogic breaths, and she simply asked, “So, you want to work with celebrities? Well, how can we make that happen?” And I promptly replied, “I could work at NOVA radio station with Merrick and Rosso and Kate Ritchie.” These were the guys I listened to on the radio every morning as we drove to school.
I’m sure a lot of mums would have ignored me, but my Mum didn’t. She listened to me and made her third phone call. A meeting was arranged with the HR manager and my Mum, along with a representative from Job Support, the agency that was to provide me with workplace training and support. My Mum was armed with a photo of me and hope.
As she shook hands with the HR manager and introduced herself, she handed him the photo of me. She said, “This is Nathan, and you could really make a difference to his life.” And the rest was history. For the past 13 years, I worked at Nova 96.9, and Smooth FM, the radio station, as an office assistant.
Here are some pics from my travels with friends and the amazing people I have met through my work.
I do believe that all of the work experience I did helped me to get a clearer picture of the type of work I wanted to do and was best suited for. Like building blocks, I built on what I had learnt. It helped me build my courge to take risks and to keep trying new things. As I have gotten older, I have wanted to share my story with others, and that is how I became a motivational speaker and advocate for inclusion in the workplace, and have spoken at international and national conferences, political forums, corporate functions, universities, schools, community groups and workshops sharing my insights about what can happen when people are encouraged to live their dreams and to live their life to their full potential.
Last year, I was asked to be an International Day of People with Disability Ambassador, which you can check out my story on their website.
Along with the people around me who support me, we are always looking for ways to expand my knowledge and learn new skills. This always gets me motivated when it is something that I love doing or I am passionate about.
Well, one of my all-time favourite passions is films. I just love anything about films; how they are made, the actors who star in them, and the film plotline and scenes. I just can’t get enough, as the Black Eyed Peas would say.
Over ten years ago, I started to learn more about filmmaking by attending a course through a local community college. Completing the course enabled me to learn from filmmakers and people who worked in the industry more about how films are made. The skills I have learned at the course and my passion has enabled me to work on international blockbuster film sets, be a film director and a production assistant.
But most excitingly, I got to work on Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Thor: Love and Thunder. Both films were shot in Sydney at Fox Studios. It was beyond exciting to work on the production of such huge blockbusters, and as a Marvel fan, it was a dream come true.
My roles included working in the director’s team, executive support, digital security, and camera and lighting. And yes, I did get to meet Chris Hemsworth, Taika Waititi, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum on the set of Thor, and that was just awesome.
I can’t tell you any secrets about the film, as I signed a non-disclosure agreement, and as a professional filmmaker, I stayed true to my contract. But, what I can say is that I’ve learned loads on the sets of Shang-Chi and Thor, and it really helped me to cement my filmmaking skills and understanding of how production comes to life.
Through my advocacy and motivational speaking work, I like to think that I am breaking down barriers on how our society perceives people with disability and ensuring people with disability have meaningful employment opportunities and are included in all aspects of our society.
The ultimate goal for humanity, of course, is that one day the word ‘inclusion’ will not need to be used in the context of people, because everyone should be seen as equal. A lot of my work and speaking to organisations and businesses is around advocating for inclusion for people with disability, and in particular people with an intellectual disability, not just in the workplace, but in all areas of society. I really want other people with disability to have the same type of opportunities and experiences as I have had.
I know for others, it has been hard and faced many barriers. Often, people with disability, when they finish school, do not have an avenue to continue their learning around something that they may be passionate about, which could lead into a meaningful employment opportunity and extending their social networks.
To improve this for people with disability, organisations need to recognise their responsibility in ensuring that they are representing all of our society. So true diversity. It is not just rhetoric or a tick in the box process when it comes to inclusion.
I would like to believe that by me speaking out and sharing my story, it has helped in changing mindsets. I think a lot of people have disability bias of the fear of the unknown. I think people seeing me do ordinary things has helped break down long-held barriers.
My message to everyone, whenever it is a school, anyone supporting someone with their employment, or a company, or business, is to be more inclusive and accessible for people with disability and to have the courage to realise that everyone has innate human potential. Each person is unique and could add an impact to your school, organisation or community.
By changing not only our mindsets but the culture of our communities, we can make an impact on people’s lives.
Life is about the journey and having the courage to take risk and overcome your fears. The power we hold within, our unique human potential, can be realised if we dare to dream.
What I would suggest if you are helping someone to live their dream and truly belong like I am:
One: Don’t put the person into a box.
Two: lose the fear of the unknown.
Three: Have a positive vision.
Four: Look at their strengths in the same way you would look at the strengths of a non-disabled person.
Five: Hold high expectations.
Six: Try lots of things.
And seven: Really listen to them and speak up.
Thanks for inviting me along today to share a bit about my story. You can find out more about me by following me on social media. Thank you very much.
Meet Nathan Basha
Nathan has Down syndrome, but he says, “That’s not who I am”. He has spoken at international and national conferences, political forums, corporate functions, universities, schools, community groups and workshops, sharing his insights about what can happen when people are encouraged to live their dreams and live life to their full potential.
Nathan is a filmmaker. He attended The University of Sydney and works at the prominent radio station Nova 96.9. Nathan believes if change is truly to occur,
“It’s in the mindsets – the fixed and mixed mindsets that create barriers, and we need to break through that, allow more people to have a chance in life and allow people’s ability to shine. What you see on the outside is one thing, but what you see on the inside is more”.
Nathan has spoken previously at one of our conferences, and we were honoured that he was able to join us again for the Opening Opportunities conference in 2023.