Abstract:
Around the globe, people with intellectual disability experience higher unemployment rates than those with no such disability. In Australia, the current national unemployment rate is 3.6%, but for people with intellectual disability it is 16.9%. In spite of this, medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) report difficulties finding suitable applicants for jobs. New approaches need to be discovered to assist MSEs to employ people with intellectual disability.
This study sought to identify ways in which the employment of people with intellectual disability might be increased. It explored the relationships between the MSE’s structural characteristics, openness, employer beliefs, and hiring strategies with the MSE’s commitment to employ people with intellectual disability. It also explored the paths taken by MSEs that had successfully employed people with intellectual disability.
A survey was used to examined factors associated with the MSEs’ commitment to employ people with intellectual disability (n=98). MSEs that identified successful employment of people with disability were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews (n=6), which explored how these MSEs were able to overcome the perceived barriers to employing people with intellectual disability.
The study found that MSEs that accepted students from work integration learning programs were more likely to employ people with intellectual disability than MSEs who did not, and MSEs that did not rate basic vocational training as important were more likely to employ than those did rate the training as important. Interview findings revealed facilitating conditions that enabled employment, actions taken by the employer to maximise successful employment, and perceptions MSEs held around benefits of employing people with intellectual disability.
The findings point to new approaches to increase MSE’s commitment to employing people with intellectual disability and have implications for education providers on inclusive education for people with intellectual disability and disability impact training for MSEs.
This study sought to identify ways in which the employment of people with intellectual disability might be increased. It explored the relationships between the MSE’s structural characteristics, openness, employer beliefs, and hiring strategies with the MSE’s commitment to employ people with intellectual disability. It also explored the paths taken by MSEs that had successfully employed people with intellectual disability.
A survey was used to examined factors associated with the MSEs’ commitment to employ people with intellectual disability (n=98). MSEs that identified successful employment of people with disability were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews (n=6), which explored how these MSEs were able to overcome the perceived barriers to employing people with intellectual disability.
The study found that MSEs that accepted students from work integration learning programs were more likely to employ people with intellectual disability than MSEs who did not, and MSEs that did not rate basic vocational training as important were more likely to employ than those did rate the training as important. Interview findings revealed facilitating conditions that enabled employment, actions taken by the employer to maximise successful employment, and perceptions MSEs held around benefits of employing people with intellectual disability.
The findings point to new approaches to increase MSE’s commitment to employing people with intellectual disability and have implications for education providers on inclusive education for people with intellectual disability and disability impact training for MSEs.