ADD ADVICE TO FAVDisability
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was introduced in 1995. Since then, awareness of ensuring equality at work for disabled people has grown. Organisations such as Skill aim to ensure that disability is not an obstacle to career success, and government schemes like Access to Work have the same objective. See the Disability contacts page for a list of organisations.
These advances have paid off to a certain extent. According to the Office for National Statistics, the employment rate of disabled people has increased steadily from 43% in 1998 to 50% in 2005. Some inequality persists, however. Although an employment rate of 50% is promising, 81% of non-disabled people of working age are in work.
Changing times
1995
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is passed to end the discrimination faced by many disabled people.
1997
The Disability Rights Task Force is established to advise how best to deliver comprehensive and enforceable civil rights for disabled people.
David Blunkett is appointed Secretary of State for Education and Employment. He is the only blind MP ever to have reached the Cabinet.
2000
The Disability Rights Commission is established.
2001
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act requires education providers to ensure they do not discriminate against disabled people.
2003
The UK Disabled People’s Parliament is launched in Birmingham.
European Year of Disabled People.
2005
The Office for Disability Issues is launched by the Government.
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 amends or extends existing provisions of the DDA 1995.
2007
Disability Rights Commission is merged with the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities to form the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Disabled graduates
Of course, not all people with disabilities have the same qualifications. As a graduate, your degree will give you an advantage.
The latest report by AGCAS reveals that employment rates for disabled graduates are only slightly lower than for non-disabled graduates, with 49.6% of disabled graduates entering full-time employment, compared with 54.6% of non-disabled graduates.
Unemployment figures are higher for graduates with disabilities – 8.9% compared with 6.4% for those without – but are still relatively low. And both disabled and non-disabled graduates enter very similar sectors.
’The employment situation for disabled people with higher education qualifications is a lot rosier than for those without,’ says Rhiannon Pugh, a careers adviser at the University of Glamorgan who also sits on the Disability Task Group of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS).
However, while acknowledging that there are plenty of vacancies, Pugh suggests that some barriers remain when it comes to securing a graduate job.
’Disabled people may not have had the same access to part-time job opportunities and work experience that others have had,’ she says. ’It’s imperative that disabled graduates take every opportunity they can to get some form of experience in the area they want to work in.’
Employers’ attitudes to disabled graduates
The good news is that employers are keen to offer opportunities to disabled students and graduates. EmployAbility, for example, has joined forces with nine leading investment banks to run InvestAbility, an event for disabled students.
There are many sources of support available for disabled students, so with a focused and positive approach you should be just as successful as your non-disabled peers.
