The Republic's first National Forum of Graduates with Disabilities was launched yesterday by the Tánaiste in University College Dublin. Ms Harney said disabled graduates played an important role in Irish business.
The forum, set up by the Association for Higher Education, Access and Disability (Ahead), will provide disabled graduates with an opportunity to meet and will examine the issues they face. Ahead said it hoped the "experience and enthusiasm" of those who had graduated and entered the labour market could help individuals coming through the system in future.
The forum will also act as an independent platform to determine how best to change attitudes and practices regarding disability in the labour market.
It aims to tackle problems of discrimination faced by graduates with disabilities indicated in reports by the Equality Authority.
Ms Harney said: "Disabled graduates play an integral part in the success of Irish enterprise and have contributed greatly to the economic development of the country.
"This forum will use the experience and knowledge of those who have graduated through our education system and gained employment, to ensure that this occurs at an even greater rate in future years".
Ahead's chairman, Prof John Kelly, said: "This is an important step for people with disabilities. The National Forum of Graduates with Disabilities recognises there are issues affecting people with disabilities coming through the educational system and into the workforce which it can research and undertake to change".
The forum is sponsored by the O' Reilly Foundation. Meanwhile, campaigners will take to the streets today to raise support for a rights-based Disability Bill.
People in shops and churches will be asked to sign a petition over the next three days, as part of the national Rights Make The Difference campaign.
It is supported by a range of groups including the Forum for People with Disabilities, the Irish Autism Alliance, the Disability Legal Resource Project and Down Syndrome Ireland.
The director of the Forum for People with Disabilities, Ms Mary Keough, said: "We are asking for a Bill to protect the fundamental human rights of people with disabilities and to end the widespread discrimination they experience in the provision of basic services from the State."