The VALID Growing Employer Demand project, a one-year project funded through the NDIS Information, Linkages and Capacity Building program, exploring ways to support employees with intellectual disability to understand and perform their roles and develop skills and career opportunities.
Project Manager Liz Collier along with Project Officers, Andrew Minge and Will Ward-Boas spoke to managers from advocacy organisations, disability services and other managers who employ people with intellectual disabilities They also spoke to people with a disability who work. “We wanted to see what support was being provided in the work place and what people with intellectual disabilities want to have provided,” says Will.
Some of the findings from the interviews showed that supervision is very rare and one reason for that is due to people working casually or part-time.
Managers from advocacy organisations recommended employing people with intellectual disabilities as it gives a wholistic view on their work along with a different view. As Will sees it, “different people with disabilities bring amazing views to their work.”
Now that the bulk of the project is over, the team plans to develop resources to for Disability Employment Services (DES) to encourage mangers to employ people with intellectual disabilities. Will explains it perfectly: “If you look past the disability, everyone is human and everyone can bring something to their work.”