Is the Irish (Republic of) Comprehensive Employment Strategy Fit for Purpose in Promoting the Employment of People with Intellectual Disabilities in the Open Labor Market? A Discussion Using Evidence from the National Intellectual Disability Database

Abstract

AbstractPeople with intellectual disabilities are largely absent from the labor market. Instead many people with intellectual disabilities attend one or more of the various employment, day, work (occupational) and training services available. This paper considers the impact of adult day service reform along with the new comprehensive employment strategy (CES) might have in improving the participation of people with intellectual disabilities in the open labor market. Day and employment services for people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland are largely organized though the Health Service Executive (HSE), the medical arm of Ireland's service machinery. However, these services have kept Irelands “invisible citizens” segregated, and separate from their communities. Despite identifying this problematic issue, services intended to support people with intellectual disabilities to lead more meaningful and fulfilled lives and be included in their communities have been unsuccessful in achieving this. Although successive governments and have announced to phase out segregated service provision for people with intellectual disabilities so that they can lead integrated lives as part of their communities, trends in the data reveal a growth rather than a decline in specialist, segregated service attendance. The widespread closures of employment services that operated as sheltered workshops, for example, did not lead to an automatic increase in the employment rates as would perhaps be expected. This signals that, despite the promise of better community inclusion through revived policies, as part of the mainstreaming agenda, services still largely operate in separate spheres and people with disabilities continue to lead marginalized lives on the peripheries of society. This research concludes that current disability policies in place to improve the lives of persons with disabilities and increase their participation and inclusion have had limited success. Most people with intellectual disabilities continue to attend adult days services rather than participating in their communities or engaging in meaningful work.