Ms Claire Hayes:

I thank the Senator for the question. I will start with whether we need radical thinking and change. I second everything Ms Hennessy and Ms Walsh have brought up about how it is not about radical thinking but instead these little steps in changing the language from the job advertisement to the interview process to when somebody starts in a role. Asking somebody to have a full driving licence when there is no requirement to travel does not make any sense. There is no logic behind that. It is just something that has always been done. It is about acknowledging there are things within the system we have always done such as "good communications" and "fast-paced environment" and asking what these things mean in reality to the person doing the job. It should be about the person's skills.

If we begin to create a culture through disability awareness training with employers, we can start to create better job advertisements that encourage other people to apply for them. From the get-go there should always be an equality statement with a job advertisement so the person who is applying knows he or she is going to be working for an inclusive employer. Mr. Kelly pointed to this. He said he would not want to work for this person if this is how they are going to treat him. He did not want to work for somebody who is going to dismiss his application because he has disclosed he has a disability. That is a really key piece. Reasonable accommodations should be offered at every step of the process, from saying there are such accommodations available when you advertise the job, throughout the interview process - however many interviews there are - and then again when a person starts in a role. A person with a disability is under no obligation to disclose he or she has a disability at any point. It is entirely up to him or her to share that information.

What we should be doing from an employer's perspective is encouraging a culture where people feel comfortable sharing, in order that they can ask for the reasonable accommodations they need to best succeed in their role.

When it comes to radical steps, I do not think these things are radical. They are very simple things we can do to make a huge difference. AHEAD did a study in 2019 and found that two out of the three reasonable accommodations that an employee asked for cost the employer nothing. There was no cost to them and the cost of the third was very minimal. We can make very small changes that can have huge impacts on a person's experience in employment and further education. The question was specifically about employment.

It is funny that the Senator mentioned gender quotas for elections. We have a target within public service employment as part of the comprehensive strategy for people with disabilities. We are looking for a minimum of 3%, which will increase to 6% in 2024. I am not quite sure where we are on that percentage at the moment. It is an interesting piece that has been brought up.

I do not think what we need is radical thinking. We need awareness and education. As I have mentioned before, there are a lot of fear-based reactions. People are afraid of saying the wrong thing or not doing the right thing so they avoid the conversation or they do not do what needs to be done. We need more education, more conversations and more awareness so employers can do better and then employees and colleagues can do better as well.