Disabled discrimination - Prejudices still plague our society

DISCRIMINATION against disabled people is embedded in Irish society, President Mary McAleese said yesterday at the opening of “Get Ahead,” a new lecture series on living with disabilities in modern Ireland.

The lectures, organised by the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability, are intended to bring together the various organisations for the disabled in an attempt to change employment practices and structures.

People with disabilities are frustrated and dispirited by the discrimination that regularly impedes their opportunities to get along in life. The unemployment rate for people with a disability, even graduates, is much greater than the rate for their non-disabled peers.