I'm aged 41. I was trained to do sewing and when I was 18, I was working in a private house in Adelaide making sheets, pillow cases, tablecloths, nappies. After that I went to ACTIL and stayed there only two weeks before I got the sack because I didn't get on with my supervisor. She blamed me for not doing my job properly, so they sacked me, even though it was a sewing job and I knew I was doing OK.

I went on the pension after ACTIL because I couldn't cope with the pressure. They reckon I had a mental block or something. When there was pressure I'd just crack. I just couldn't take it.

After that I came to the Phoenix Society in 1972. When I first came here I was gluing sponges onto plastic mops. Then they put me onto sub-contract work and this year I've been doing contract work in an enclave at Griffin Press which is not far from the Phoenix factory at Torrensville. There are ten of us down there packing street directories for Sydney and Perth in plastic wrap. If there's no work at Griffin, we come back to the factory here.

It's different working at Griffin because you're mixing in with people from the outside. They support you and are friendly and treat you just like you're one of them. They are not like some people on the outside who are nasty!

I like sheltered work. I can work at my own pace, there is no pressure. No one stands over me telling me what to do. I'm happy to keep working there rather than trying to get a job in outside employment. The money is not as important to me as being happy and content and not having the pressure. I would make me sick.

I got married in 1976 and stayed at work until I was about eight months pregnant with my son and then left for two months. I came back in 1977 and left again in 1978 to have my daughter, Amanda.

Being a working mother is hard sometimes because I feel like I'm never there for Amanda. She needs more full time care because she's intellectually disabled. I'd like to be there more for her, but I'd go a bit crazy being at home.

I only see her at night time. As soon as I get home she's happy to see me. If anything goes wrong, she's got to run to her dad. My husband is at home on a support pension. He can't work because he had osteomyelitis when he was seven.

I've got to be doing something all the time. I nearly had a nervous breakdown the year before last because I was doing overtime every night for about three months and I just cracked. I yelled and screamed and everyone was yelling and screaming at me. I was ready to pack up and leave and forget the whole lot. The social worker helped me then and I just cut the overtime and that help too.

Jenny Hazelwood