Closing the employment gap between able and disabled people isn’t rocket science. It is all about engagement - getting employers to change their perceptions and see the ability, not the disability.
We are a specialist training academy for 72 young people with learning disabilities in Minehead, Somerset. We train young people to enter work in the hospitality and catering trade, and 86 per cent of our learners over the past six years have gone into employment.
We are not alone in that success rate. Other specialist colleges achieve similarly high rates.
The secret? Our learners are work-ready and that happens through our tailored education and work placements. Like many specialist FE colleges, we also invest a great deal in engaging with employers to ensure that the graduate and the job are a good fit.
Our learners receive training and achieve the qualifications they need to get into the hospitality and catering industry. We train young people aged between 16 and 25 in our business, Foxes Hotel. It is a real hotel, with real people doing real shift work - subject to the rigours of TripAdvisor.
Expectations are critical to success. We expect our learners to train within this environment: to turn up on time, correctly dressed and ready to learn. They are expected to complete a six-hour shift in food preparation, food service or housekeeping.
Stumbling block
Learners achieve industry-recognised qualifications such as level 1 and 2 food hygiene certificates, City & Guilds employability awards and functional skills qualifications.
Our graduates are work-ready, they want to work and, like all other graduates, they want to lead successful lives. And here is the stumbling block. Too many employers only see the disability, or what they perceive to be the disability.
They first think about what the young people cannot do, rather than what they can do. Never mind that they turn up on time every day, ready for work, with some of the lowest sick rates among workers. Never mind their skills and work ethic.
A disability is defined as “a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses or activities”. We all have limitations. Is it really beyond the realm of possibility that we can accommodate these limitations, and make reasonable adjustments in the workplace? This isn’t charity. Research shows that employing people with disabilities adds real value to a business.
This is an edited version of an article in the 26 August edition of TES. Subscribers can view the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. You can also download the TES Reader app for Android or iOS. TES magazine is available at all good newsagents.
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