Job concerns for people with learning disabilities

Yellow Submarine helped Kyle (far left) to find a job after he graduated

A man with Down's Syndrome left South Africa to come to the UK as he thought there would be more job opportunities here.

Kyle Wood moved with his family in 2019 and has been working at a diner in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, since September.

It comes as recent figures showed just 4.8% of adults with a learning disability and autism are in employment in the UK.

But that is still better than South Africa’s employment rate for disabled people, which sits at about 1%.

Kyle was previously a trainee at the Oxfordshire-based charity Yellow Submarine

Securing a job has not just provided Kyle with new skills, it has also given him the opportunity to socialise with colleagues and be part of a work community.

“They helped me so well…I love my managers,” he said.

Kyle was a trainee for 18 months at the Oxfordshire-based charity Yellow Submarine, which supports disabled people into employment.

After he graduated, the organisation helped him find a suitable job and continued to offer him support.

'Challenge perceptions'

The key focus of the charity is helping its trainees remain in long-term employment by encouraging employers to make simple adaptations in the workplace – known as reasonable adjustments.

But Rachael Blakey, Yellow Submarine’s adults programmes manager, said: "I think that employers are worried. They’re worried about saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing.

"Also they’re worried about the costs of making adjustments."

In 2016, the government launched the Disability Confident scheme in an attempt to encourage more businesses to employ and retain disabled people.

There are currently 19,638 employers signed up to all three levels of the initiative in the UK.

But Ms Blakey is concerned it does not have measures in place which hold employers to account to ensure they are making the necessary adjustments.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Disability Confident is designed to challenge perceptions and help businesses take productive steps to address the challenges some people face finding and staying in work.

“An independent survey of scheme members in 2022 found around two-thirds of employers reported hiring a disabled employee since joining the scheme, and more than four in five reported they were currently offering workplace adjustments.”