Disabled face job problems, says study

People with disabilities face major difficulties securing employment despite the booming economy, according to a study published yesterday by SIPTU.

In a survey of shop stewards and employee representatives in 40 workplaces, the union's Waterford branch found job opportunities for people with disabilities remain scarce.

Once people with disabilities managed to secure employment, however, they were generally treated on a par with their "able-bodied" colleagues, the union said. Many of the shop stewards surveyed for the study, Disability: A Trade Union Challenge, expressed the belief that their employer would not hire a person with disabilities.

Mr Mike Jennings, SIPTU's south-east regional secretary, said the survey highlighted the need to break down mental barriers about employing people with disabilities.

Prejudice on the part of some employers was a more serious obstacle than inadequate infrastructure in the workplace, he said. "A lot of employers look to what people can't do rather than what they can do. There is a level of ignorance about this issue which has to be addressed."

The report recommended that SIPTU begin a campaign to achieve the official target of having people with disabilities make up 3 per cent of the public service workforce. A similar target should be set for the private sector, it said.

The survey, carried out in spring and summer 2000, found that 75 per cent of the workplaces concerned had no workers with disabilities. In these companies 36 per cent of shop stewards surveyed believed their employer would not employ someone with a disability.

The report was compiled by Mr Terry Bryan of SIPTU's Waterford branch, which has 7,500 members. He said the opportunity for people with disabilities to contribute on an equal basis in society needed a radical overhaul.

"In our union the ability to participate is a democratic right. Yet, if one is not afforded access or opportunity to communicate, this basic and fundamental right is denied." he said.