There is a growing interest within LDSA about employment for people with Down syndrome. While services for early intervention and education are developing well, there is still much opportunity for developing employment opportunities for people with Down syndrome.
The LDSA has many active members whose children are becoming young adults and leaving school but there is not a clear pathway for these young adults into employment.
The LDSA appears to have a strong network of contacts in government and business and therefore they have the resources and capacity to use these to assist people with Down syndrome.
Recommendation 9.1 - Concepts
There are 4 important concepts with regard to employment:
Least Restrictive Alternative: there will normally be a range of services that people with disabilities can use, some will be main stream and some will be restricted to people with disabilities only. When it is possible, services should be as close to main stream as possible.
Capacity for positive change: an important assumption in disability services is that people have the potential to make positive changes in their life.
Open employment: employment that is not restricted to people with disabilities only and could be done by anyone in the community with the necessary skills, training and knowledge.
Supported employment: employment that is specifically for people with disabilities and some elements of normal labour market requirements may be absent e.g. productivity, training, limited skills.
Employment of people with Down syndrome has 3 components –
1. Promotion
This usually refers to incentives to employers to take people with disabilities:
- Wage subsidy – subsidising the wage of the worker for a short term (weeks) or long term (months) period. It is not intended to be an on-going arrangement.
- Supported wages – developing a system to allow the employer to pay the worker a productivity based wage, which may be lower than the standard wage.
- Training wage – paying the worker a lower wage while they undertake a period of training.
- Work entry incentives – paying the employer a bonus payment or offering some other benefit to employ a person with a disability.
- Workplace modifications – paying for the cost of any modifications or equipment needed to facilitate the employment of a person with a disability.
- Quotas – legislation requiring employers to employ a percentage of people with disabilities – usually not disability specific and may refer to certain types of employers e.g. government or employers with a large workforce.
Each of these methods is utilised to a greater or lesser extent around the World. There are benefits and disadvantages for each method and many countries use a combination of incentives.
2. Training
Developing the skills of people with Down syndrome to prepare them for work – e.g. vocational training, on-the-job training. This could be done in formal vocational training centres, e.g. within the LDSA centre, or in specialist vocational training centres for people with disabilities.
3. Services
Providing the services to employers and employees to assist them to maximise the work capacity of the person with Down syndrome.
a) Individual supported jobs
Where workers with a disability are placed in designated jobs in open employment, usually with support, while they learn the job.
b) Employment promotion agencies
Agencies established to encourage employers to consider people with Down syndrome as employees – campaigns (advertising, awareness days) or negotiation with employers.
c) Supported employment
- Job coach – a person employed to work alongside a person with a disability to assist them with extra support to learn a job.
- Enclaves – a section of a larger workplace that only employs people with disabilities.
- Small businesses – a business that only employs people with disabilities to make a specific product.
- Mobile work crews – a crew of workers who provide a specific service, often in agriculture or cleaning
Employment will only be successful when all three components – promotion, training and services, are combined.
Different countries develop different models of legislation and implementation according to their national needs and capacity and no single model can be applied everywhere.
A good source of information are the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Country Profiles (March 2003) Employment of People with Disabilities: The Impact of Legislation. Examples include Australia, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Japan, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. All are available via their website www.ilo.int.
Recommendation 9.2 - Service Models
Members of the LDSA have many good ideas for employment options for people with Down syndrome. Each of these ideas has considerable merit and could be actively pursued. However, a variety of service models are needed because people with disabilities have different abilities and needs and models should be based on the concept of least restrictive alternative. No single service model will suit every person with Down syndrome and different models will suit a person at different stages of their life as all people with Down syndrome have the capacity for positive change.
Strategic alliances with other groups of people with disability may enable the resources of the LDSA to achieve a greater variety of employment options.
Recommendation 9.3 - The Importance of Positive Stories
A common experience of parents of a child with Down syndrome is losing the expectation that the child will grow up and achieve normal adult milestones such as getting a job, living independently and establishing relationships. With regard to employment, it is important to discuss with parents this expectation as “changed” or “delayed” but not “lost”. Parents’ expectations (or lack of expectations) can have a profound effect on the self expectations of the child with Down syndrome. If the child is never expected to grow up and get a job, it will not be surprising if this is what happens. On the other hand, if a child grows up with an expectation that they will eventually find some kind of work that is suited to their ability and potential, e.g. open or supported, then it is possible that the child will grow up and get work.
The stories of people who are successful can lead the way for other people and give people with Down syndrome and their families a sense of hope and expectation that employment is a reasonable expectation for adults with Down syndrome. Therefore it is important to collect the stories of people with Down syndrome who are in employment and promote these to other families
LDSA to collect the stories of people with Down syndrome and promote these stories to young adults with Down syndrome. It will be important for the stories to be different so that young people with Down syndrome believe that they have choices in employment.
Recommendation 9.4 - Employers
Employers and businesses are important strategic allies to help people with Down syndrome obtain employment. When there are people with Down syndrome who are successfully employed, it is important to provide support and encouragement to the employers and to promote their stories to other employers so that they can act as advocates to other employers. This will have greater influence with employers than promotion from parents and people with Down syndrome.
When people with Down syndrome are employed, encourage the employer to tell their story to other employers to encourage them to consider employing someone with Down syndrome.
Recommendation 9.5 - Skills for Employment
When someone with Down syndrome is considering employment, it is important that they are prepared through the development of employment skills. Employment skills are not just the technical skills required to do the job but the “employability” skills or generic skills necessary for all jobs.
There are eight Employability Skills:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Problem solving
- Initiative and enterprise
- Planning and organising
- Self-management
- Learning
- Technology
Like Individual Education Plans (IEPs), employability skills need to be developed at an appropriate level for a person with Down syndrome. Individual Pathway plans are an extension of IEPs and form the bridge between education and employment. As part of the IEPs of teenagers with Down syndrome, a focus on employability skills will ensure that they have the necessary skills that potential employers are looking for.
