“As soon as you say you have a disability, they decide you can’t do the job… So many times, I now hide it. And other people I know hide it too.”
With dreams of running his own charity to support people with learning disabilities in Zimbabwe, 29-year-old Brendan says that despite having a number of qualifications he’s never had a job. “I’ve been told, ‘You’ve got unemployment written all over you’” Brendan recalls in one shocking incident at his local job centre. “I’ve been pushing and pushing but now I give up… The problem starts with education. We would love to work, but there is not enough support for people with a learning disability.
“He got a haircut and bought a suit to make a great impression for the interview. When we arrived, the interviewer took one look at us and said, ‘I’m sorry, he won’t be suitable for the role’ without even taking the candidate through any of the questions he’d prepared.” In the same way that gender identity, ethnicity, sexuality and age shouldn’t be a determining factor in whether a candidate does or doesn’t get a job, disabilities are the same.shows that out of any disability or condition, people living with learning disabilities have the lowest unemployment rate at 74.8% – despite such a large percentage of them wanting a paid job.
“We hear of many brands and companies developing corporate values about inclusivity and equality,” Jackie O’Sullivan, Acting Chief Executive at Mencap, says. “It would be great to see them really putting this into action. Now more than ever, with so many jobs unfilled, it makes sense for companies to open their minds – and their doors – to a new workforce.