Unemployment prospects of disabled person increased

A DISABLED person is two and a half times as likely to be unemployed as someone without a disability.

This in turn contributes to the significantly higher rate of poverty in households headed by disabled people.

These are the findings contained in a report published yesterday by the National Disability Authority (NDA) and launched in Dublin by Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin.

NDA director Claire O’Connor said: “This report raises important policy questions which I hope will provide food for thought among policy makers and disability organisations.”

The report shows:

* A small minority of employers have employees with a disability.

* Relatively few employers have made job or workplace changes to facilitate disabled workers.

* Half of employers are unaware of grants and supports to employ disabled workers.

* Sheltered work makes up a relatively small percentage of employment for disabled people.

About 85% of working-age people with disability or chronic illness have acquired that disability. The NDA says this underlines the importance of strategies to retain people in work after the onset of disability if we want to increase the proportion of disabled people in a job.

Participation in education by young people with disabilities is significantly lower than their non-disabled counterparts - a third of those aged 15 to 19 are already out of the education system.

To increase employment rates among disabled people, the NDA recommends increased recruitment in the public and private sectors.

The authority also recommends that employers be informed of the available grants and supports for workers with a disability.

Ms O’Connor said the report highlighted the high drop-out rate from education of teenagers with disabilities.