First graduate of work skills program developed by TAFE and AFFORD Lourdes Tabone is one of the first graduates of the Employment Work Skills Program. Like many other young workers, Lourdes Tabone is ambitious and likes to set goals for herself. Unlike most, she has an intellectual disability but she refuses to let that stand in the way of her dream of becoming a warehouse supervisor at the factory where she works in Minchinbury in Sydney's west. The 32-year-old Wilberforce woman is one of the first people in NSW to graduate from a TAFE course specifically designed to help people with intellectual disabilities navigate the workplace. The Employment Work Skills Program, developed by TAFE NSW and the Australian Foundation for Disability (AFFORD), is the first of its kind and offers instruction in computer skills, workplace safety and how to manage information. For Ms Tabone, the skills she learnt have boosted her confidence as well as her knowledge. "At first I was a little bit nervous," she said. I enjoyed the course. I got to learn new skills, like computer skills, which I didn't have before. So far 20 students have graduated from the course, with plans to offer it to 22,000 people with intellectual disabilities who work at Australian Disability Enterprises, formerly known as sheltered workshops. Supported employment manager at AFFORD, Anjuli Rangar, said the course funded by the federal government was developed over three years following demand from staff who wanted to improve their proficiency at work. "They would come to us in meetings and say they wanted to increase their skills," she said. They wanted to learn computer skills and communication skills, things they can use at home and at work.  AFFORD's Minchinbury factory has a catering kitchen, a vegetable garden and a packaging line with workers encouraged to set goals and achieve them. Most of the 101 employees at the factory have an intellectual disability, either congenital or acquired as a result of an accident. "A lot of the work they do here feeds into independent living skills, they are learning how to cook for example," Ms Rangar said. General manager of marketing at AFFORD Fiona Ellis said workers with disabilities should be offered the same rights to learning and development as other employees. "Sometimes people with disabilities or their families have an arbitrary feeling about what they are able to do," she said. One of the things this program has shown is, given the opportunity and support, they can do anything.