Mr. Padraig Hannafin:

I thank the Chair and committee for the invitation to give a personal perspective as a person with a disability who is in employment. I am the public affairs research administrator with the Rehab Group. I have been in the role since 2009, having left University College Cork with three MAs to my name. At the age of 16 I suffered a spinal cord injury after a fall from my garden wall in my home in Kerry. After three weeks in the intensive care unit in the Mater and ten months in the rehabilitation centre in Dún Laoghaire, I returned to the same school, class and classmates as before my accident.

While I spent as long in third level education as I would have if I were to train as a doctor, not all of this was voluntary. I completed my final MA because I realised society as a whole was not quite ready for me, as a disabled person, to enter employment even if I was. The PA support I had received throughout my education did not exist in employment for a person with a disability. The person who had been there as a support to me physically in order to carry out photocopying, stapling, carrying books from one room to another and helping me with my lunch or going to the bathroom would not be there if I were to get a job.

This barrier, in combination with the indescribable fear that were to get a job I might lose the benefits that made the cost of living with a disability achievable to some extent, meant it was easier to stay in college. It was the easier and safer choice to halt my progression. It was the easier and safer choice to stay in college, and take up space, valuable resources and support, than to do what I actually wanted to, namely get into employment and start paying back.

According to a 2020 report from the ESRI, of the EU 28 nations Ireland ranked as fourth lowest for the employment of disabled people who are of working age. A rate of just 36% of people of working age with disabilities were in employment. While the report highlighted a lack of transitional supports from secondary schools to third level education, my example also shows that transitional supports need to have a greater emphasis put on them from third level education into employment.

In my experience, a multifaceted approach needs to be taken, including a view across society as a whole. For example, a college or university can be fully accessible and provide all of the supports needed for somebody with a disability, but if the transport service to and from a university is not accessible then those supports are moot. Very simply, no one stakeholder, policy or intervention can solve this issue on its own.

The support provided to employers to encourage the employment of people with disabilities are, in my experience, more realistically aimed at the retention of people with disabilities, given their short-term nature. In my experience, the supports were of no benefit to me whatsoever.

Disability awareness among employers needs to be actively encouraged and improved. I am employed within the disability sector. The majority of the people I know who are disabled and in work are employed within the disability sector, where obviously the understanding of disability is at its greatest. My wish is that this understanding of disability would be spread among employers more generally. This would reveal the untapped pool of talent among disabled people and highlight the documented benefit that disabled people bring to all employers, not just those within the disability sector. Research shows that disabled people have higher retention rates and lower absenteeism.

Things have changed and improved since I got my job in 2009. I would feel much more confident going into the employment pool if I were to seek to change jobs now. However, it still remains the case that for me my disability would still be my greatest barrier to getting employment.

It must be said that legislation needs to make provision for Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which commits Ireland to enacting changes that recognise the right of persons with a disability to work on an equal basis with others.

As I said, this is an opportunity for me to give my personal perspective of being employed as a disabled person, but also to give an opportunity for others to share their voices and let them be heard. I now want to give words to some of the participants in training and employment with Rehab. A participant in our hospitality programme in Wexford said:

Before the course I would not interact with people at all. By coming to the course and meeting people and getting out there more and talking to people, it has done a lot for my confidence. I feel I am ready for the world of work now.

Another participant in the hospitality course said:

I feel like I am more confident to go out into the world and to be perfectly honest I feel much more empowered. I am actually doing something. It is nice feeling.

Here are the words of two individuals supported into employment through our partnership with Mr Price stores:

I look at myself today and how far I have come. I have a job and I am delighted.

I got my job and it was like being part of a family.

Finally, this testimonial is from a former National Learning Network student who was supported into employment with Eir:

The best thing I have done since joining National Learning Network was getting a part-time job at Eir headquarters. In the end, I was delighted with myself when I received a contract of employment and all the hard work paid off. Working on my own has helped me become the person that I am today, which is more independent.

I thank the committee for listening and am happy to answer any questions members may have.