Ms Jeanne McDonagh:

I thank everyone for their time. I am a white woman with reddish, curly hair wearing glasses and a blue dress. I am also a CEO with an invisible disability. I have dysphoric elation, a type of bipolar. With the correct supports put in place, I have been able to build a career and advocate for others. Without these supports, I would be in a very different space in employment, if in it at all. However, not everyone has access to these. Only 36.5% of people with a disability are in employment in Ireland.

We let you into our personal lives, give up our privacy and open up our lived environment in an effort to gain aid and employment, without which we cannot partake in society on our own terms. We are portrayed as heroic for fundraising for necessary supports or even holding down work, when all we want is to be treated on an equitable basis and allowed to live our working lives without having to be othered. We need supports to gain that equitability, which should be standard and not have to be fought for regularly. We should not have to deal with red tape or inaccessible systems in order to gain them in a timely manner.

Disability is not a bad word and needs to be recognised as a natural part of life for billions of people throughout the world. One in seven of the population in Ireland - that is the size of Connacht - have a disability. It is incumbent on the Government and wider society to recognise societal barriers and attitudes as the disabling factors for people with disabilities. To support people who may face challenges into equitable employment, we must first recognise existing obstacles and the need for structural, attitudinal and systemic change.

It is also an economic imperative. Full employment is not achieved when so many still face unemployment and no way of accessing it. Employers' mindsets need to be changed to see people with disabilities as viable and valuable employees. All Departments have a role to play in this, especially those working directly with employers.

In this room, there is statistically another person with a disability who may not feel empowered to speak out due to stigma, past negative experiences and a lack of support. I personally know of only two other CEOs and three politicians who are open about their disability and how it forms part of their work and lived experience. This lessens the number of role models for people with disabilities whose work they look to as a career roadmap.

We need to recognise disability as an entrenched part of our society, one that can impact us all through acquired disability at any stage in our lives or that of our friends and family. Some 70% of disabilities are acquired after the age of 16, so we are all one step away from an acquired disability, be it physical, mental, sensory or otherwise.

Several changes could be made through cross-Department work that would immediately alleviate the burden on people and allow them to take part in employment and create self-support.

There are some overarching points we would like to make in respect of getting people with disabilities into work. Enhanced investment in evidence-based employment supports is required to benefit individuals with a disability, the economy and broader society. All supports must be reviewed to make them work better for the jobseeker by amalgamating all the current disability supports into one grant that will cover an employee’s needs, as was achieved by the UK’s access to work scheme. We must remove the onus from the employer to apply for grant support and empower the jobseeker with a disability to seek work with their supports already in place. We should tie the supports to the person so they can change employment if they wish without going through the process again, as was mentioned by Ms McGriele. We must make work pay so that people who no longer qualify for disability allowance due to employment are still eligible to receive free travel passes and medical cards thereby acknowledging that being in employment does not remove disabled persons' need to access both. Implementing these and the other changes highlighted in our written submission would make an immeasurable difference to people with disabilities seeking work. They would also help those who acquire disabilities in their working life to retain their careers and continue to be employed.

The Open Doors Initiative, through its Employers for Change and Towards Work programmes, funded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, can assist both employers and potential employees to find and retain work. The models to date have been successful in raising awareness among employers and assisting future employees in their job search but far more needs to be done in this space. A comprehensive and holistic approach needs to be taken across Departments to help those who can and want to work to achieve this goal. Employers need to be educated in working with employees with disabilities and the process of on-boarding and retaining them needs to be made far more manageable.

Disability is central to us all. It is not something to be ignored or treated with mere pity. It can happen to anyone before or during their working life and this needs to be acknowledged and allowed for. It is not good enough that so many are denied access to a quality of life and the benefit of employment. Speaking as someone who has been very fortunate in her career, with understanding and informed managers and supportive colleagues, I have been able to thrive despite periods of tangible instability and illness. I fully realise I am one of the lucky ones. My experience should be the norm for all people with disabilities and not just those who can access the right supports. It is beholden on the committee members, as representatives, to work towards this for the one in seven people in Ireland who have disabilities, and potentially themselves, their families and friends. There is a lot of work to be done to ensure that equitable treatment of all to access employment is carried out, that stigma is not accepted and informed understanding prevails.