Walking around her new office just a few days after her appointment, Commissioner for Disability Samantha Pace Gasan is determined to send a clear message to society: people with disability deserve to work too.

The 27-year-old was appointed commissioner earlier this month, taking over from Oliver Scicluna who is now an MP.

As a person with a disability herself – she lost sight in one eye last year after a stroke following heart surgery – Pace Gasan is now even more vocal about the need for people like her to be part of the workforce.

“We cannot have a cycle where people with a disability repeatedly involve themselves in programmes and projects but never find work.

“That is something which a lot of people have already asked of me: help me find a job for my son. We have to change this,” Pace Gasan said.

Recalling her own employment fears last year and admitting the appointment has served as a boost to her morale, the new commissioner believes places of work can successfully engage people with disabilities once they become more open to change.

This would be a crucial step, she said. Although changing the way things are done may take some extra effort, it is far from impossible.

“Let’s take a cafeteria, for instance. Let’s try to find ways to use assistive technology so that a person with disability can still take orders.”

When it happened to me, I suddenly started wondering whether people were judging me

Acknowledging that making such changes could be costly, she said working around disability could lead to more creative ways of doing things, a move that would benefit all employees.

“Diversity brings a new perspective to things,” she said.

And now is the right time to take such an approach, as the world has been forced to make changes and adapt because of the COVID-19 pandemic that drastically altered the way things are done.

Having a sister who has Down’s Syndrome, Pace Gasan has been close to disability most of her life. But it was only after her own experiences last year that she truly became aware of some of the struggles that many face.

Despite thinking she knew more than most about living with disability, she was shocked to find herself realising she had actually been “internalising my thoughts about disability”.

“That was one of the things that truly took me by surprise. I know my sister lives a good life… she is always full of energy, going out, building relationships, going to school and hoping to one day get a job.

“But when it happened to me, I suddenly started wondering whether people were judging me. What are people expecting from me? What about work? Can I take on certain responsibilities?”

She says all these thoughts stem from the culture in which we live. Although there have been advances made in the sector, more work is needed to address all the issues people with disability still deal with on a daily basis.

As a visually impaired person, Pace Gasan has an invisible disability and sees her own appointment as a giant leap forward.

“People always tell me they would never have guessed I have a disability so that in itself is already a statement. But still, we need to work on this because there needs to be more awareness that not all disabilities are visible,” Pace Gasan said.

As she pulls up her sleeves to deal with the never-ending list of issues that she must deal with in her new role, one thing she wants to eradicate from society immediately is the way some still treat people with disability – as though they were children.

“The words like miskin/a (poor) are still used by some when speaking to people with disability. No, they should not be called that. And they should not be spoken to as though they are children when they are adults.

“People need to be aware that this is not okay. We need to change our ways,” Pace Gasan said.