One in four disabled people in employment

JUST one-in-four disabled people has a job and those with disabilities are three times more likely to leave school early, according to a report launched yesterday.

The report, commissioned by the National Disability Authority (NDA), says educational underachievement among disabled people, as well as the social welfare trap, need to be addressed if more disabled people are to find full-time employment. A major complaint among people with disabilities is the fact that benefits are taken from them when they find full-time work.

Entitled ‘A Strategy of Engagement — Towards a Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities’, the report calls on the Government to adopt far more radical policies to ensure disabled people are given equal access to jobs.

Launched by Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin, the report found despite a buoyant economy, employment rates for disabled people have fallen by around 3% since 2002.

Eithne Fitzgerald, senior research officer with the NDA, said the Government needs to move beyond encouraging employers to recruit disabled people and start addressing the factors which lead to unemployment.

“It is important to look across the whole spectrum of things,” she said.

“The social welfare trap and medical card trap are issues that need to be addressed, as is the problem of transport to work.

“People with disabilities are three times more likely to leave school early, so education is important.

“Traditionally the message the system has sent out to people is that if you have a disability you are not really expected to work.

“It’s not surprising that employers have taken that message on board.”

Research shows that more than 70% of disabled people with degrees find work.

The report also calls on the Government to make it “financially rewarding” for disabled people to start jobs.

Among the report’s other major recommendations is a call for the public and private sector to implement policies which support the recruitment and retention of people with disabilities.

The Government has a 3% employment quota for disabled people within the public sector.

It is currently just short of that quota, at around 2.7%.