Post by bruce on Jan 19, 2015 1:59:28 GMT 7
Disability employment rate at 15 year low
Norman Hermant reported this story on Saturday, January 17, 2015 08:20:59
SARAH DINGLE: The unemployment rate may have unexpectedly dropped last month, but the search for a job is only getting harder for Australians with a disability.
In fact, the percentage of people with a disability in the Australian Public Service has been declining for 15 years.
And disability advocates say it's time for Australia to consider employment equity laws that would force employers to take steps designed to promote the employment of people with disabilities.
Social affairs correspondent Norman Hermant reports.
NORMAN HERMANT: It may not sound like it but in his office cubicle Gary Kerridge is in deep conversation.
The disability coordinator is deaf, and using Skype, he and an Auslan sign interpreter are showing just one of the ways he communicates on the job.
He's happy at his current workplace but like most people with a disability, he has horror stories to tell about a previous job where his disability was viewed as an inconvenience.
GARY KERRIDGE: I don't think they understand that sort of relationship where it's reciprocal, that I have something to offer. They think they're doing me a favour.
NORMAN HERMANT: At her family home in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Riki Domagalski knows just how hard it is for people with a disability looking for work.
Legally blind and living with a slight cognitive impairment, the 36-year-old can work, and wants to. Thousands of job applications in 14 years have brought just two short term contracts.
RIKI DOMAGALSKI: I've had roughly 6 months paid work in my entire life. It was so liberating; I felt so empowered having that job.
NORMAN HERMANT: The reality is, says Gary Kerridge, the job prospects for Australians with a disability are getting worse.
GARY KERRIDGE: You would think that if the Government wanted disability employment to go well, they would improve it themselves, but it's not, and I think it's actually going backwards.
NORMAN HERMANT: In fact, in Australia's Public Service, employment for people with a disability is going backwards.
In 1999, 5 per cent of the Public Service identified themselves as living with a disability.
By 2014, that number had fallen to just 3 per cent.
Senator Mitch Fifield is the Assistant Minister responsible for disability employment.
(to Mitch Fifield)
Have we reached the stage where we need to consider some sort of employment equity legislation?
MITCH FIFIELD: I'm uncomfortable with quotas, but I'm very relaxed about individual organisations setting targets for themselves.
NORMAN HERMANT: But many people with a disability say the current measures aren't working.
Riki Domagalski just wants a chance to show what she can do.
RIKI DOMAGALSKI: What employers and the public in general need to realise: people with disabilities are people first. We want the same quality of life anybody else, not just wants but is actually entitled to.
SARAH DINGLE: Riki Domagalski ending that report from Norman Hermant.
www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4163772.htm
Norman Hermant reported this story on Saturday, January 17, 2015 08:20:59
SARAH DINGLE: The unemployment rate may have unexpectedly dropped last month, but the search for a job is only getting harder for Australians with a disability.
In fact, the percentage of people with a disability in the Australian Public Service has been declining for 15 years.
And disability advocates say it's time for Australia to consider employment equity laws that would force employers to take steps designed to promote the employment of people with disabilities.
Social affairs correspondent Norman Hermant reports.
NORMAN HERMANT: It may not sound like it but in his office cubicle Gary Kerridge is in deep conversation.
The disability coordinator is deaf, and using Skype, he and an Auslan sign interpreter are showing just one of the ways he communicates on the job.
He's happy at his current workplace but like most people with a disability, he has horror stories to tell about a previous job where his disability was viewed as an inconvenience.
GARY KERRIDGE: I don't think they understand that sort of relationship where it's reciprocal, that I have something to offer. They think they're doing me a favour.
NORMAN HERMANT: At her family home in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Riki Domagalski knows just how hard it is for people with a disability looking for work.
Legally blind and living with a slight cognitive impairment, the 36-year-old can work, and wants to. Thousands of job applications in 14 years have brought just two short term contracts.
RIKI DOMAGALSKI: I've had roughly 6 months paid work in my entire life. It was so liberating; I felt so empowered having that job.
NORMAN HERMANT: The reality is, says Gary Kerridge, the job prospects for Australians with a disability are getting worse.
GARY KERRIDGE: You would think that if the Government wanted disability employment to go well, they would improve it themselves, but it's not, and I think it's actually going backwards.
NORMAN HERMANT: In fact, in Australia's Public Service, employment for people with a disability is going backwards.
In 1999, 5 per cent of the Public Service identified themselves as living with a disability.
By 2014, that number had fallen to just 3 per cent.
Senator Mitch Fifield is the Assistant Minister responsible for disability employment.
(to Mitch Fifield)
Have we reached the stage where we need to consider some sort of employment equity legislation?
MITCH FIFIELD: I'm uncomfortable with quotas, but I'm very relaxed about individual organisations setting targets for themselves.
NORMAN HERMANT: But many people with a disability say the current measures aren't working.
Riki Domagalski just wants a chance to show what she can do.
RIKI DOMAGALSKI: What employers and the public in general need to realise: people with disabilities are people first. We want the same quality of life anybody else, not just wants but is actually entitled to.
SARAH DINGLE: Riki Domagalski ending that report from Norman Hermant.
www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4163772.htm