Ms Jodie McGriele:

I am the NCBI's employment, training and academia manager. I am 41 years old and identify as a Welsh, white female with long brown hair, who is wearing a red dress today. I am here with my colleague, Mr. Sean Doran, who is a programme manager and accessibility consultant with the NCBI.

The NCBI welcomes the opportunity to feed into the deliberations of the committee. Enabling people with disabilities to have full opportunity to participate and progress in the labour market is vital for their own financial independence, mental health and social interactions, but it also reaps dividends for companies and the economy. On a sectorial level, it was very disheartening but not surprising to find out that the European Disability Forumdescribed Ireland as leading the “hall of shame” by having one of the lowest number of people with disabilities in employmentin Europe. Yet, we know that companies that employ persons with disabilities, including those with vision impairment or blindness, are much more profitable and better performing.

The NCBI plays a crucial role in maximising blind or vision-impaired people’s ability to participate or retain their jobs in, or return to, the labour market. However, 75% of blind or vision-impaired people in Ireland are not active in the labour market. That is too much untapped potential. Issues of employer discrimination, bureaucratic and insufficient statutory support, as well as the inaccessibility of the recruitment process, remain a constant stumbling block. The comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities operates as a cross-departmental strategy and is the current national employment strategy guiding employment services and supports for people living with sight loss. Many of the actions in the strategy reflect a holistic and proactive approach to employment. The creation of the Open Doors Initiative is particularly welcome. However, key actions that are necessary for the advancement of people living with sight loss to obtain and retain employment have not been completed.

These include the publication of the review of the reasonable accommodation fund, the creation of a strategy that promotes and supports entrepreneurship and self-employment for people with a disability, and an employer information campaign to promote the recruitment and retention of people with a disability.

The NCBI is not currently funded by the State for delivering employment services. The NCBI was fortunate enough to be awarded €200,000 from the Dormant Accounts Fund. During the span of the NCBI's 18-month VisAble initiative, which ended in 2022, overall results exceeded targets in most outputs. Some 44 individuals with vision impairment achieved employment. Furthermore, this project facilitated the creation of employment opportunities by 26 employers, specifically for people with disabilities. A further 107 engaged in employment activation activities and 114 engaged in employment skills training. Additionally, 70 individuals received assistive technology or equipment to enhance their capabilities.

In 2022, the employment team supported 340 referrals, 207 of which are new referrals to the NCBI. That was done on a mere 4.2 whole-time equivalent, WTE, nationally. Despite these factors and the absence of State support, there is significant disparity in national coverage, particularly in the western and north-western regions. Furthermore, referrals have increased by 25% this year. This is unsustainable without additional support and resourcing.

In order to bolster the NCBI's strategic position in the employment sector, we have appointed two national workplace integration partners. Their responsibility is to establish a network of exclusive partners who are confident in employing individuals with vision impairments.

The NCBI has also developed a suite of bespoke programming. The NCBI’s employment skills for individuals with vision impairment or blindness, which sits at Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, level 4, allows learners to fully participate in all aspects of the curriculum. Assessments were carefully considered to ensure the content was accessible, realistic and achievable for learners with vision impairment.

In addition, the NCBI holds the exclusive responsibility for conducting manual examinations for the International Computer Driving License, ICDL. However, this certification heavily relies on vision-based and automated assessments when taught in mainstream settings, which compromises its usability for learners with visual impairment. Furthermore, the NCBI has taken a pioneering step by becoming the first further education and training provider to enable learners to independently access their assessments digitally.

Inclusion & Accessibility Labs, IA Labs, conducted a review of a large number of websites in Ireland to create Ireland's first digital accessibility index report. This report provides detailed information on how inaccessible many areas of Ireland’s digital landscape can be for people with disabilities. One sector highlighted in this report was employment. The report showed 89% of job search sites were not digitally accessible. Since 2020, all publicly-funded Government websites are legally obliged to be compliant with the web accessibility guidelines, but still many fall far short, including publicjobs.ie. This law is extending to all private sector service providers in 2025 through the adoption of the European Accessibility Act.

Despite IA Labs reaching out to more than 600 recruitment companies to provide guidance on compliance with accessibility standards, not a single company was willing to make their website accessible. This failure to prioritise digital accessibility effectively excludes individuals with disabilities from applying for jobs and participating in the workforce on equal terms.

Making the workplace more accessible and diverse by ensuring all digital platforms and digital content is compliant is not only the right thing to do, but it can also increase a business’s target demographic by 13.5%, as stated by the Central Statistics Office, CSO. Digital accessibility non-compliance serves as a significant barrier to employment in Ireland, contributing to the existing disparity.

NCBI has placed importance on providing a secure and user-friendly training and design space that caters to the needs of people with disabilities, including those who are blind or vision impaired. This space aims to promote and support their increased use of public transportation through a “learning by doing” approach. The Wayfinding Centre is an incremental change within the Irish context, as less than 6% of people with disabilities utilise public transport every day to attend school or work.

Technology is the great enabler for people who are blind or vision impaired. The NCBI recommends the allocation of dedicated training and funding to ensure that all publicly-funded job websites fully comply with the Government's legislation regarding the web content accessibility guidelines. Special emphasis is placed on websites such as publicjobs.ieand jobsireland.ie, as they were legally obligated to be accessible by 2020.

The workplace adaptation equipment grant is available to employers for acquiring assistive technology resources. However, individuals who are blind or visually impaired have reported significant delays in the grant processing, which subsequently affects both the employee and the employer negatively, as cited by the National Disability Authority, NDA, in 2019. To address this, the NCBI introduced a special case funding scheme that enables service users to obtain interim funding for the required equipment. It is also worth noting that the grant is currently tied to specific roles rather than being tailored to individual needs.

The NCBI emphasises the need for greater flexibility in welfare payments or tax allowances to provide better support for individuals with vision impairments who are seeking employment, self-employment or working on a sessional or contract basis.

To succeed, NCBI must be agile and do the hard work to develop real and mutually beneficial partnerships with companies, Government leaders, other non-profits, competitors and community groups. The NCBI has the capabilities and solutions. We ask the committee to support us with funding to continue these crucial services. The NCBI asks the Government to support equity for people impacted by blindness or vision impairment rather than equality.