Plea to remove employment barriers for disabled graduates

Access to public transport must be drastically improved to ensure college graduates with disabilities are able to avail of employment offers, a group warned today.

College graduates with disabilities told the Government they were facing major barriers to taking on jobs and transport should not be one of them.

Tina Lowe, a member of the group Get Ahead, said: “In order to gain employment, barriers such as inaccessible transport, attitudinal barriers, inaccessible public amenities and work areas must be changed in order to create a much more disability friendly environment which will make employment for people with disabilities a reality.”

In a document given to the Government, Ms Lowe said increasing employment opportunities for the disabled was an admirable goal but what happens if you could not get to and from work.

“They can do the jobs they just need an opportunity to do them,” the group representing college graduates with disabilities said, adding there was a gap between Government promises and actions taken.

Statistics show people with disabilities form around 10% of the population but the Public Sector target for employment for people with disabilities is 3%.

Kathleen Lynch, a Labour Party TD, said the Government needed to ensure the paltry 3% target for the employment of people with disabilities was raised.

“Considering that 10% of the population are disabled, then that is the target that we should be seeking in both the public and private sector,” she said.

“It seems incredible that we have buildings that people with mobility problems cannot enter without help.”

The document an ’Exhortation to Government’ highlights the importance of ensuring access to employment and calls for a national campaign to raise awareness of existing government supports to increase employment for people with disabilities.

The group also called for the elimination of VRT and VAT on taxis to encourage taxi drivers to purchase accessible vehicles or adapt their current ones. It also marked the importance of ensuring disability awareness training for taxi drivers.

However, the document also said a penalty should be put in place and enforced for all service providers to ensure access to public transport.

The group said Part M of the National Buildings Regulations to ensure all buildings are accessible should be enforced.