Ms Mary Finn:

I will circle back to the earlier question on how people access my service. It is called Connect4Work and is a service primarily aimed at employers but is very much in support of the employee who is either in work at present but at risk of an absence because there is a challenge going on in his or her life, or that employee is already absent and is now trying to return to his or her job and work. It is all about exploring reasonable accommodations, putting together a return-to-work plan to make sure the person can return to his or her job in a gradual way that is supported. It includes support of the application process for any grants the employer can apply for that will allow the employee to make that transition back. It is generally employers that will contact me, but individuals sometimes contact me and we transfer them to working with an employer. I am based in Galway but I offer the service nationwide. I have connected with Christabelle Feeney in the Employers for Change service. I also link in with different organisations and different supports.

I cannot speak for education but from my experience of working with organisations, as I referenced earlier, if people do not have experience of disability, when it comes into their lives, which it might via another person with a disability, such as a work colleague or somebody they are supporting or supervising, they do not know how to talk about disability. They may not understand that particular person's experience. Mr. Kelly gave a very personal account of his experience. For people living in a world where they have a disability, people outside that world do not understand it. It is very important for people who are coming back into the workplace after they have acquired a health condition, or there is a mental health challenge, a physical disability or whatever the reason for the absence, that organisations are open to exploring reasonable accommodations. This includes asking people what they need and what employers can do to help them to come back, engaging in conversations as early as possible and keeping people connected with work so they can return to work in a very safe, planned and sustainable way. This is so they do not end up exiting the workforce, being distanced from it and trying to get back into it. As Ms Hayes and others have mentioned, it is more difficult to get back into the workplace. Employees might have a job coach and employers could be worried about what it means for them and how they can support it, in addition to not knowing anything about it and not understanding it.

That is where I am coming from. When there is inclusive education and children coming through classrooms where they experience disability, for example, my children, who are in classes with others with many different capabilities, they do not see those other students as being anything different. They are just the girls and boys in their class. They see it as nothing different. I know that when my children get into college and working life, if they are placed in a position of having to support somebody, it will not be a huge thing because they know how to ask questions of the people in their class, such as "Can I help you?" and "What do you need from me?" That is why having mainstream education with much more supports, as Ms Walsh mentioned, is the way to go forward. When we have inclusive education and everybody comes through the same system, they have a better understanding and know how to ask questions. I hope that answers Deputy Tully's question.