Supports needed to aid disabled to work

Reduced hours or other flexible work arrangements could play a role in getting more people with disabilities into the workplace, research suggests.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found a high level of interest in working among unemployed people with a disability in a study of employment and educational experiences of more than 7,000 working-age people with disabilities.

Almost 30% of those surveyed were currently working and 56% had worked in the past, but nearly half who were not working said they would be interested if the circumstances were right.

The National Disability Authority-funded analysis by Dorothy Watson, Joanne Banks, and Seán Lyons suggests a link between people with mobility and pain disabilities being out of work, and unmet needs for assistive technology or therapy services.

Asked what they needed to be able to work, almost half identified flexible arrangements like reduced hours, but modified job tasks and accessibility modifications were also strongly favoured.

One in four said they needed a wage subsidy, but the need was higher among those with unmet needs for services or devices or with lower education levels.

The report is based on analysis of a Central Statistics Office national disability survey conducted in 2006, but it recommends a number of policy strategies. They include supporting those whose disability emerges while in school to continue in education, and lifelong learning opportunities for people with intellectual and learning disabilities, most of whom were affected from birth or childhood.

There have been increased school supports for pupils with special educational needs in the past decade, but the report says 2012 research findings that students with a disability dislike school more than others need to be addressed. The new study found half of people affected by their disability while at school had left sooner than they would have liked.