Disabled more likely to suffer from poverty, ESRI report finds

People with disabilities are more likely to suffer from poverty and depend on social welfare for income, according to a new report compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Education and Employment Experiences of People in Ireland: An Analysis of the National Disability Survey also found people who were affected by their disability while in education tend to have lower levels of education than the wider population.

It found the reason for the economic disadvantage associated with people who have a disability is mainly due to the difficulty they have in gaining or retaining meaningful employment.

About 29 per cent of working-age people with a disability are in employment while a further 56 per cent had worked in the past.

It also noted the highest level of non-employment was with those affected by emotional, psychological and mental health disability.

Nearly half of those surveyed said they would be interested in working if the circumstances were right. It found some 15 per cent of people with disabilities left school sooner than they would have liked and 17 per cent missed time in school due to their disabilities.

The study also looked at what people with a disability needed to be able to work. Some 46 per cent said they would need flexible working arrangements, 29 per cent identified modified job tasks as key and 32 per cent said increased accessibility to a working environment would encourage them to go back to work.