By Olivia Shivas
olivia.shivas@stuff.co.nz
Stuff: August 20, 2022, • 05:00am
Jordan Langley says disabled people want to work and there shouldn’t be so many barriers to getting into work.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / STUFF
Disabled people want to work but there are often barriers to employment, says a young visually impaired man.
Jordan Langley is concerned disabled people on the Jobseeker benefit would be even more marginalised under National’s proposed Welfare that Works programme, which includes sanctions if people don’t follow a job plan with a job coach.
Implementing sanctions is “pretty brutal” for disabled people and those with health conditions, he said.
He’s faced barriers himself with employment regarding modifications to accommodate his visual impairment.
When he applied for Ministry of Social Development (MSD) funding for a special high-resolution computer he needed to work in IT, the funding was denied.
At the time, MSD defended its decision, saying the programme Langley applied for was intended for people who were not in employment, so he was not eligible.
However, Langley said the funding criteria restricted disabled people and funding should be available to support disabled people staying in their jobs, too. In the end, his employer funded the equipment.
He said transport was another barrier to work.
“If you can’t drive a vehicle and taxis can be more expensive – funding around that is important,” he said.
Rather than disabled people under the Jobseeker benefit getting a job coach and facing sanctions, they should have a case manager to support finding work and to deal with the wider barriers disabled people faced getting a job.
“There are people who want to work, and there shouldn’t be too many barriers to getting into work.”
His comments come after National leader Christopher Luxon said on Newshub Nation that people on the Jobseeker Benefit – including those with a disability – would be sanctioned if they didn’t work with a job coach and participate in a job plan under the programme.
While speaking to media in Timaru earlier this week, Luxon elaborated: “We've got is a major problem in this country where we have huge record job shortages.
“I want to be really clear, even people with health conditions are actually being assessed to say there is a pathway for these people to get to employment within two years.”
When asked if any disabled people were involved in the creation of the Welfare that Works programme, he responded: “We've talked to lots of community organisations, as we've developed that policy over the last few months.”
National’s Welfare that Works policy fact sheet states: “There’s no reason young people who can work shouldn’t be able to find paid employment right now.
“Sanctions play an important role in shaping the incentives faced by Jobseekers,” it stated.
But Hannah McLaren, who lives with a spinal cord injury and uses a mobility scooter, said she’s concerned this programme will force disabled people into the wrong jobs in order to avoid being penalised.
“My peers are worried that they’ll end up in a job that they’re just not capable of doing in order to avoid these sanctions and they’ll end up getting a bad employment record because of it.
“I think it’s disgusting,” she said. “None of it is thoughtful, none of it’s empathetic to someone’s situation.”
Working from home
McLaren said one of the wider issues disabled people face when it comes to employment is public transport.
In Cambridge, where she is based, she said there were four bus services a day but you’re solely reliant on those limited bus hours if you don't drive, and some public transport doesn’t cater for mobility scooters.
McLaren spent “years and years” applying for jobs. She’d come to the point of having a signed contract, but having to wait three months and pay up to $3000 for an occupational therapist report. By the time she’d have the report done, the job would have been given to someone else.
She said she’d like to see an employment policy that takes into account the “disability tax”, that covers the additional costs of having a disability – like counselling, physiotherapist visits and equipment not funded by health providers.
Hannah McLaren said one of the wider issues disabled people face when it comes to employment is transport.
TOM LEE / STUFF
National’s social development spokesperson Louise Upston defended the programme, saying those on the Jobseeker benefit were a group of New Zealanders currently able to work, and expected to be able to work in the future with assistance and support. The policy would not apply to those on the Supported Living Payment benefit.
Upston said she had spoken with disabled people when developing the programme.
When asked if the job coaches would have any disability training, she said she would expect there were some community organisations with experience working with disabled people.
“The job coach is the bridge between the employer,” she said. “So sometimes employers may not understand what people need in terms of a workplace, so the job coach can help be the bridge and ensure that a person is able to apply for and stick with a job … to practically help them to reduce those barriers is really important.”
Regarding measuring success of the programme, Upston said, for some people, that will look like full-time work and for others it would be part-time.
“This is also based on an individual’s plan and it’s a plan they make with their job coach, it’s nothing that’s imposed on them. It’s not something someone else makes up, they have control over it.”
Regarding National’s welfare plan, Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni said: “Christopher Luxon is showing what kind of leader he is. Sanctioning people with disabilities or with serious illness if they can’t work is just unkind. Instead of penalising our sick and disabled, the Government is focused on supporting them into work if they can and helping them achieve their aspirations.
“Our Disability Employment Action Plan is continuing to play a pivotal part in supporting disabled people into employment. We’re already seeing record numbers of people move off benefit and into work. Our approach is working and we stand behind it.”
But despite Sepuloni’s comments, the unemployment rate of working age disabled people is more than double compared to non-disabled people, according to the latest Stats NZ data.
In the June 2022 quarter, the unemployment rate for 15 to 64-year-old disabled people was 7.9%. For non-disabled people in the same age range, the unemployment rate was 3.3%.
Minister for Disability Issues Poto Williams said society has a long way to go to learn the skill sets that disabled people bring to the workplace.
“Disabled people find it difficult to find jobs so they will be the most impacted by the National policy. So it stigmatises disabled people.”
She said what would help disabled people into employment were proactive programmes that engage employers and support disabled people in the initial stages or for however long they need that support.
Minister for Disability Issues Poto Williams said society has a long way to go to learn the skill sets that disabled people bring to the workplace.
ROBERT KITCHIN / STUFF
She said employers might need to make some modifications in the workplace, but they will see the benefit of having disabled employees.
Progammes that help disabled people engage and integrate into employment.”
The Green Party’s social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said there was no evidence that sanctions support people into meaningful employment.
“The reality is, the groups that are overrepresented in unemployment figures will be those that are harmed the most, including disabled people, Māori, as well as other groups that face barriers into employment.”
The Greens were advocating for an unconditional support system that would remove all sanctions and a more fit-for-purpose employment programme run by MSD and the community.
“I think part of what we are seeing as not working is the intensive case management isn’t really working to people’s strengths,” he said. “If we let people find employment on their own terms, they do tend to stay in employment for longer.”
McLaren now works as a disability adviser for the Covid Healthline and being able to work from home has “changed everything”, she said. It’s meant she can work 40 hours a week, compared to 19 hours a week.
She said disabled people are more likely to be reliable employees because they are used to “proving ourselves twice as hard”. Her advice to employers: “Give us a chance.”
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