Introduction

This chapter explores the intentions behind, progress made towards and practical barriers faced by the Australian government in its bid to help more people with disabilities gain meaningful employment. Insights into these issues along with some key recommendations are illustrated through a case study of Holy Cross Services in their adherence to new government policy. The chapter thereby provides insights into the general policy issues along with some specific recommendations.

Four key dimensions are explored, based on a continuous improvement approach to supporting people with different abilities in achieving their career goals. Firstly, we provide an overview of the Australian employment market for people with a disability and recent changes. Secondly, we present a case study reviewing the design and implementation of a supported employment (SE) service delivery model designed to empower people in achieving their career ambitions. Thirdly, we offer an introduction to the challenges encountered by people with different abilities as they progress through their career opportunities. Finally, we discuss the learnings and principles informed by these initiatives and case study to support future employment models for empowering the individual to achieve their career goals and enabling employers to employ more people with different abilities.

Australian disability employment policy

National Disability Insurance Scheme

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides support for Australians with disability, their families and carers. The NDIS is designed to provide approximately 460,000 Australians under the age of 65 who have a permanent or a significant disability, reasonable and necessary support to live an ordinary life. As an insurance scheme, the NDIS takes a lifetime approach, investing in people with disability early to improve their outcomes later in life. The NDIS supports people with disability to build skills and capability so they can participate in the community and employment. Participants are provided with an NDIS package which allows them to receive support from service providers of their choice, and when they choose it, giving the participant ‘choice and control’ over where and what support they receive. This model of providing services to people with their own funding is referred to as individualized funding.

A few monasteries cannot easily be categorized because so little is known about them from fleeting references in documents. This brief chapter considers the limited evidence for these monasteries and evaluates what can be said about their likely affiliation and their place in the framework of Crusader States society.

Monasticism in the Christian tradition was a product of the Eastern Roman Empire, particularly the provinces of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Monks and monasteries already existed in Syria and the Holy Land before the end of the fourth century and, despite the profound changes associated with the Arab and Seljuq conquests of the seventh and eleventh centuries, some were still functioning by the time of the First Crusade at the end of the eleventh century. The most distinctive feature of monasticism in the Holy Land was its close relationship, both institutional and spiritual, with the shrines and Holy Places that also exercised a magnetic attraction to pilgrims from all over Christendom.

The focus of this chapter is on Orthodox monasteries as spiritual centres. The nature of Orthodox monastic spirituality in the Holy Land is examined from hagiographical and theological writing. The theme of the chapter is the continuity of early monastic traditions and the adherence of the monasteries to ideals and practices that had their roots in the early Christian ‘golden age’ of monasticism.

A Latin monastic presence was part of the landscape of the Holy Land as early as the fourth century. Although the Latin presence waned after the Arab Conquest of the seventh century, interest and involvement in the monastic presence of the Holy Land continued, notably in the reign of Charlemagne in the early ninth century. The eleventh century saw increased knowledge of conditions for Christians in the Holy Land as pilgrimage from the West became more widespread. By the eve of the First Crusade in 1095, the Latin and Greek Orthodox Churches had drifted apart in observance of religious customs, but they remained in communion. The purpose of the Crusade was to revive and strengthen the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

One of the main features of western religious life in the twelfth century was the emergence of new monastic Orders inspired by the desire either to reform observance of the Rule of Benedict or to create alternative forms of monasticism. One such initiative following the latter approach was the Order of Prémontré founded in northern France in the 1120s. This chapter examines the foundations of the Order made in the Holy Land in the twelfth century and considers their appeal to lay patrons and their distinctive role in religious society.

The Carmelites were an unique religious Order: the only contemplative Order to owe their foundation entirely to the Crusader States. They were formed in the early thirteenth century from a group of solitaries and hermits who had gathered for safety on Mt Camel, near the new capital of the kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre, and absorbed into a new community by Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem. Their aim was the pursuit of a penitent life in a small regulated community in a fixed location without the burden of property ownership. By the middle of the thirteenth century, however, they had made the transition to being mendicants, and although Mt Carmel remained the spiritual heart of the Order, they had founded houses in the West as well. This chapter examines the origins of the community and the process of transition, situating the Carmelites alongside other models of reform in the Crusader States.

Although Francis of Assisi never set foot in person in the Holy Land, he was associated with the Crusader States through his presence in Egypt on the Fifth Crusade. The Franciscans established priories in the Holy Land, notably at Acre but also in other centres of population, and played a significant role in the pastoral life of the Latins in the thirteenth century, at a time when monasteries were struggling to maintain their landed properties and thus to minister to rural parishes. Franciscan spirituality manifested itself through care for prisoners and in the mission field.