A bridge to work
School can be difficult for everyone, but for students with disabilities the difficulties are generally heightened. The
Prime Minister acknowledged this at the recent Labour conference, when she announced the introduction of approximately 600 learning support coordinators to work alongside teachers across the country.
The hope is that this new workforce will provide better support and advice for students with disabilities and their teachers, as well as giving parents “a single point of contact with someone who understands the needs of their child, and will advocate for them as they move through their time in the school.”
It’s great to see this positive step toward improving supports for young people with disabilities, but, sadly, it will serve to highlight the massive deficit in our supports for adults with disabilities.
For many students with disabilities the support and safe environment in the classroom will finish abruptly when high school comes to an end. In fact, the OECD recommends that the next step is to build supports to enable a seamless transition into the world of employment.
While support for students with disabilities is generally available in universities, research has found that these tend to be related to academic issues or practical supports rather than advice regarding future employment.
The importance of improving this transition phase only grows when we note that the unemployment rate of New Zealanders with disabilities is currently twice that of New Zealanders without them. The good news is that improvements are possible.
The disability support services at Victoria, University of Wellington, have been working with employment support service Workbridge to do exactly that.
Assistance with career plans, job applications and job search strategies, as well as advice on how to positively disclose a disability to potential employers, are important tools and supports that are now helping to smooth out the transition process from study into employment.
The relationship with Workbridge also means that recent graduates can be connected into a pool of employers already looking to employ people with disabilities.
It would be great to see more training institutions providing this kind of integration, thinking ahead to how their students with disabilities can be equipped to leave their education with the same access to opportunity as their peers.
With the introduction of the learning support co-ordinators in schools, hopefully this kind of planning will become a regular part of their conversations with young people, parents and educators.
School can be difficult, but life doesn’t always get easier as we become adults. We welcome greater support for young people with disabilities at school, and look forward to the government, education providers and business leaders getting serious about providing opportunities for those same young people when they get older and start looking for a job.
"While support for students with disabilities is generally available in universities, research has found that these tend to be related to academic issues or practical supports rather than advice regarding future employment."