Have you considered taking an empathy-based approach to identifying how your organisation can make itself more accessible for people with disabilities? Perhaps you should. Empathy training and developing emotional intelligence are gaining in popularity as ways to better understand customers, improve collaboration with colleagues and to develop better leaders. Another area in which many organisations … Continued
Big corporations like Westpac do a better job of employing and retaining people with disabilities than government does, say leading inclusive employment advocates. As large profit-driven companies ramp up their commitment to workplace diversity and corporate social responsibility, government departments and agencies are falling behind as an employer of choice for people with disabilities.
Just 99 cents an hour – that was the pay rate for two people with an intellectual disability who were employed by Australian Disability Enterprises. The Government has legislated to address the issue, but its only offering to restore half their backpay. A class action is currently underway to try and restore 100% of their … Continued
The Australian Public Service has launched a new scheme, RecruitAbility in an effort to raise the woefully low number of people with a disability they employ. The scheme works by fast tracking applicants who self nominate as having a disability in the recruitment process so that they are guaranteed an interview if they meet the … Continued
A bill to stymie a class action lawsuit by workers with intellectual disabilities failed in 2014. The Australian government intends to revive it – but why? In October 2014, David Freud, the British welfare minister, gave a speech in which he argued that some workers with intellectual disabilities should not be paid the UK minimum … Continued
The rate of unemployment for people with a disability is 7.1 per cent. You might think that’s not too bad, except that the unemployment rate doesn’t really tell you much. The more telling statistic is that their workforce participation rate is almost three times worse than the rest of the population. Some people with disability … Continued
National Peak Disability Consumer and Advocacy Organisations applaud the Senate vote to block the passing of the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT) Payment Scheme Bill 2014. In blocking the Bill, the Senate has shown support for the human rights of people with disability to seek fair and full compensation for lost wages through the … Continued
This video profiles three people who share their frustrations in gaining employment despite their skills, training and abilities and offer some practical ideas for employers and policy makers. For more information, contact ADDE: A: Level 2, 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne VIC 3000 W: www.adde.org.au T: 03 9662 3324
People with disabilities left the workforce four times faster than they were hired in the past year leading concerned disability advocates to call for reforms to federal government hiring procedures. In the past year, 535 people with disabilities left the public service, 46.4 per cent of whom were retrenched, compared with only 119 engagements in … Continued
We used to call them sheltered workshops. That’s a thing of the past – they’re now branded as ‘Australian Disability Enterprises’, places where people with disability are routinely placed and where you can earn as little as $1.79 an hour. A kinder term, but ‘lipstick on a pig’ in the eyes of many. Workers are … Continued
Blinded when she was 20, Ms Henley uses a form of “echo-location” – clicking her fingers or tongue to produce echos much like a bat’s navigation – to find her way around a new office and a new city. “The noise bounces off objects in your environment. You can use it to work out different … Continued
Thousands of disabled Australians earn just a few dollars an hour working at disability enterprises. A recent Federal Court decision will lead to higher wages, but some employers fear this will send them broke. Is this a cunning ploy to get out of paying more or are their fears justified? And some parents believe these … Continued
The theory of overcoming barriers for entry into the workforce by disabled people is great. The practice, however, is something else altogether. Rob Potter explains. Discrimination against disabled people is a difficult subject to broach, much less comprehensively discuss. This is compounded by the fact that we live in a society that thinks it actually … Continued
Insight looks at whether more people with disabilities should be working – and what’s standing in the way. The discussion comes as the Federal Government is reviewing the DSP, saying it wants more people who have a capacity to work back in the workforce. Dr George Taleporos is a 39-year-old disability rights advocate. He has … Continued
The reassessment of people on the disability support pension is always going to be a problem,” Ms Young said. “It doesn’t necessarily create jobs in the labour market, it doesn’t create opportunities.” Under the changes, an estimated 28,000 people on the disability support pension who are able to work more than eight hours a week, … Continued