Ms Christabelle Feeney:

For the individual specifically, we are talking about measures such as the reasonable accommodation fund. As it stands, there are four different grants within that. The individual usually tends to apply for two of them and the employer applies for two. It would be much easier if it was left to the individual. Let us take away the wage subsidy scheme. For example, a person could apply themselves for assistive technology as part of the reasonable accommodation fund. It makes absolutely no sense that people have to go through the employer to get a piece of assistive technology that, technically, they can bring with them when they leave, but that never happens. They then go to another place of work and have to apply all over again, plus they have the embarrassment of having to follow up with the employer, chase them and ask if they managed to apply for it. Nobody wants to do that. It is really hard starting a job on day one, without that extra stress.