One in five Australians – about 4.3 million people – live with disability. This year, the federal government will release a new National Disability Strategy seeking to make society more inclusive and equal for people with disability.
The National Disability Employment Strategy, a key element of the overall strategy, is currently under public consultation. It is critical that people with disability, advocates, governments and universities work in partnership to recognise and address the complex interactions between people, the physical environment, social structures, and attitudes.
The Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion’s submission – in collaboration with UTS academics and practitioners – calls on the Commonwealth to use insights from the well-developed body of evidence, to which we have contributed, to ensure it delivers improved socioeconomic outcomes for people with disability. Our three main points are:
Inclusive education
People with disability leave school early at higher rates than people without disability. Yet attaining a higher level of education generally equates to better employment outcomes and higher income – key factors in attaining economic security and independence.
In 2018, just 17 per cent of people with disability aged 20 years and over had obtained a bachelor degree compared with 35 per cent of those without disability. The challenges for students facing psychosocial disability are far more substantial.
We believe an overhaul of the Disability Support Fund (DSF) is needed. Approximately $7 million is available each year to universities nationally to attract domestic students with disability, and to deliver appropriate support for them to succeed.
The DSF grant is calculated on disability data in the Higher Education Information Management System. However, shortfalls in funding persist as a consequence of the fact that many students with long term health conditions do not consider themselves or identify as people with disability, and yet access the services of university Accessibility Services.
The funding formula must change to reflect the support needs of students with disability and the broader university student cohort – in particular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and those from low socio-economic backgrounds at risk of developing mental ill-health. Using the numbers of students registering for support services offers a more accurate reflection of the level of need at universities, and is more robust as verifying documentation is required.
Inclusive employment
COVID-19 accelerated the move to flexible and hybrid working, and ideally this momentum can be maintained, creating better working conditions for everyone.
The Commonwealth must supports employers, particularly SMEs, to provide an environment that ensures equity and wellbeing for vulnerable cohorts of employees – like carers and staff with disability or health issues who may be more restricted in their ability to work in the office.
Flexible working should not become a barrier to career progression post-COVID. Opportunities for career development, training, promotion (and indeed actions related to recruitment, dismissal and redundancy) should be provided fairly and the Commonwealth has an important role to play in ensuring that employers are aware of their legal obligations.
The Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion supports the proposals outlined in the Strategy consultation paper to develop and promote information, tools and resources for employers.
Advancing inclusive employment and research
At UTS, our inclusive disability research agenda goes beyond health to include consideration of education, employment, housing and community living, freedom of movement, freedom from abuse and the upholding of dignity and respect in all services.
For employment to be meaningful and sustainable, people with disabilities must be employed in roles where they are socially included and have equal career and employment opportunities to people without disabilities. Integral to this is job satisfaction, opportunities to utilise skills and competencies, and being valued in the workplace.
Leading disability employment programs are person-centred rather than systemic. Successful programs do five key things:
- Invest in individuals beyond their placement in a role to enhance the skills and career progression of employees with disability
- Provide workplace exposure, job preparation, internships and on-the-job training.
- Grow the industries that use the particular skills and talents of people with different types of disability.
- Remove barriers in the workplace by ensuring tailored approaches, which are critically important for the attraction, retention and career progression of people with disability.
- Change the narrative through the power of disability employee and people networks.