ELSEY's own cartoonist!

August 20, 2024

Meet Matthew Anderson

The Easy Read Toolbox is proud of our record for providing fairly paid employment to disabled people. Consistently over 80% of our team have disabilities.


In a conversation with a colleague, Chris, from Max Employment, learned about our work and wondered if we might be interested in employing Matthew Anderson, a young Queensland man who loved producing cartoons for his online followers.


Chris and Matthew reached out to Karen (the Toolbox founder) and over a chat we realised that Matthew could be the perfect fit for our ELSEY project.


ELSEY stands for 'Easy Life Skills for Every Youth', and coincidentally, the ELSEY team had started working on employment resources.


While Matthew worked on his first cartoon, as a trial, Chris worked with Karen to set up financial support for Matthew's wage. As the Toolbox's income can be unpredictable, this was a very welcome 'bonus'!


Read more about Matthew's experiences in this article by Max Employment.


[Image description for cartoon above: Employment Tips: Dressing for the Interview. A koala is dressed in a tuxedo, wondering if it is too dressy. He is then dressed in a SCUBA suit, saying "Wrong suit". In the last frame he is dressed in a collared shirt and tie, and pants. He has his thumb up, saying "Just right".]

Individual with their hand on their chin looking to the right. Text: What is a social Enterprise?

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Ladina and Karen standing in front of 2 Toolbox banners.

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We had such a great time attending the SECNA (Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT) Social Enterprise Festival 2025 . We were kept busy meeting new people and telling them all about Easy Read including our huge library of inclusive images. We spoke to a lot of people who were new to Easy Read, who expressed shock when learning that 44% of Australians read at primary school level or below! We were able to demonstrate the difference a translated Easy Read document makes with our before and after samples. We welcome those who subscribed to our mini showcase where we share what goes on behind the scenes at ERT and showcase all the resources our members have access to. We also had lots of interest in our Introduction to Easy Read Workshop . It was a great warm up for our stall at the National Disability Summit , 18 and 19 September. Be sure to come and say Hi if you’re attending! - Adriana Pamplin