'Gutted': Man with disability trolled for doing his job at an auction house
A Mildura business has called out a person who wrote a negative comment about an employee with a disability on a Facebook post over the weekend.
Nigel Cleary, who was born with cerebral palsy, had been holding a sign during an auction, at Parkes in New South Wales, which was shared live online.
The video was posted to the Burns & Co Auctions Facebook page when someone left words directed at him, saying "what's holding the sign."
Nigel said on Monday morning it was a bit of a shock and he was still upset.
"I don't know why people can be so mean when they haven't met me," he told Yahoo 7.
Nigel said he has been working with the auction house for a couple of months and has been going to their events for a few years.
Burns & Co Auctions shared a number of images online on Sunday, including one of Nigel and another of the comment, saying Nigel was a key member of the team.
The post read: "He joins us in all our major auctions across the country.
"I was gutted this evening to read this. When are we going to accept people as people... with a heart of gold and a work ethic second to none, Nigel is our hero!"
While Nigel was disappointed by the person's comment at first, he said he wasn't going to let it continue to bring him down.
"I said bugger it - I'm a bit better now but still a bit upset."
"I really don't need negative comments in my life in the minute, but we'll bounce back."
Ashley Burns from Burns & Co Auctions said Nigel is astute, reliable, responsibile and a "good bloke".
"It cut me pretty deep when I read that on Facebook," Mr Burns said.
"He's part of our family."
"He's sharp as a tack. He's got a really good knowledge of the stuff that we sell." Ashley Burns said.
Nigel said this has been his only negative experience during this job and said he loves work.
He added it has been a great learning curve and would like to start his own shop in a few months.
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