Mr. Joe Mason:

I thank the committee for inviting us here to discuss the issues of access and progression for young people with disabilities in regard to further education, training and employment. I am the CEO of WALK. WALK is an innovative, forward-thinking organisation that is renowned for leading change within the community and voluntary sector and is highly recognised for its commitment to the provision of superior quality services. I am joined by Mr. Des Henry, our walkways co-ordinator, and Ms Gráinne Berrill, our Louth PEER co-ordinator.
To begin, I would like to read an article by Noelin Fox, who is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy in NUI Galway. Her article states:

This month, my daughter, like thousands of her peers across the country, is moving away from home for the first time. She is 18 years old and is taking up her place in college, embarking on her journey to independence. Over the coming months she will have to learn a whole array of new skills which she has no previous experience of. She will have to manage her (limited) budget, feed herself ... learn to live with [other] people ... manage the academic work ... deal with the bank, figure out bus time-tables, forge new friendships ... she may well make mistakes. She may submit work late ... spend too much money ... and get involved in unwise relationships ... Hopefully she will learn from ... mistakes and manage better the next time. Throughout this process she will have plenty of support [...]
How different all this would all be if she had a disability, especially if she had an intellectual disability. Would she be leaving home at all at this stage of her life? Probably not ... On a practical level she may not be allowed to open a bank account or sign a lease ... If she were deemed by a ... doctor to be unable to manage her money, [her disability allowance or any benefit would] ... be paid directly to us.
And where would she go anyway? There are so few mainstream third level education options open to people with intellectual [disabilities] [...]
Our systems and structures are designed to support my daughter’s progress from home to college and on to employment. The pathways are clear and open. ... For people with intellectual [disabilities] ... the opposite is the case. Quite apart from the worries of parents about the ability of their ... sons or daughters [with disabilities] to manage [and maintain an independent life] ... the lack of clear pathways is an enormous [task] ... For young adults with intellectual disabilities the most likely route after school is some form of training or day [activation programme] ... provided by a disability service provider and funded by the health services – not education. Although FÁS or SOLAS funds some training programmes for people with disabilities, the vast bulk of day services and training for people with intellectual [disabilities] ... is funded from the health budget. So, while our educational obligations to most young adults continues into their twenties, it seems to end at eighteen for those with intellectual [disabilities] ... This means that if a young adult with [an] intellectual disability does not want to attend a specialist ... post-school education or training programme, they will in general have to forge a path largely unassisted by our state systems – which in the main only provides recognised pathways to specialist/segregated services for them.

As noted in our submission document, it is difficult to obtain data on progression rates for young people with disabilities but what we do know is that despite the vast amount of legislation, policies and investment in place, people with disabilities have much lower rates of labour market participation than their non-disabled peers. We also see evidence on the ground of the limited options and opportunities for young people leaving our education system.

In 2012 the Department of Social Protection secured funding from the European Social Fund for the disability activation project, DACT. We successfully applied for funding under strand two of DACT, progression programmes for young people, to deliver the WALK PEER model to 16 to 24 year olds in County Louth. This funding enables us to roll out the PEER methodology of developing routes to employment for young people with a broader spectrum of disability. Designing our employment programmes has sharpened our focus on the gaps in provision of support for young people with disabilities. Almost 20% of people with disabilities finish school with primary education or less and one third fail to complete their secondary education. The majority of young people with intellectual disabilities progress to HSE-funded services.

This is what leads to low engagement with the labour market. People with disabilities are half as likely to be in employment as their non-disabled peers. Some 85% of people with an intellectual disability are unemployed. If we do not give people a start early in life, then they will not get a start at all. Rather than creating a climate of inclusiveness and expectation we have created one of segregation and low expectations. We must make a variety of options available to young people with disabilities which will ensure that they have genuinely equal employment routes that facilitate them in becoming fully involved as contributing members of our society. As evidenced by the case studies in our submission, individualised interventions, which have proven to be very successful, often are not complex or costly. The long-term benefits and savings resulting from the provision of appropriate supports are significant. There will, at the very least, be an identifiable return on the €1.3 billion per year that we are currently investing in special educational needs supports. We ask members to ensure that the need for suitable opportunities for these young people does not slip off the agenda. As requested by the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, the National Disability Authority is developing a comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities. This is not solely an issue for the Department of Health, however, because these young people are not sick. They require extra individualised supports to progress successfully from education to adulthood, with a view to having a full, meaningful and contributing life.

The DACT project concludes in early 2015. Section 5 of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2014, on Pathways to Work and the youth guarantee, commits to having a comprehensive strategy on employment for people with disabilities signed off by the end of 2014. There is, therefore, a challenge for the Departments of Social Protection and Education and Skills to ensure that activation delivers tangible options for our young citizens from 2015 onwards.