I finally managed to rewatch The Week in Politics so that I could hear for myself something that had been said by Enda Kenny TD which had kindly been pointed out to me.

You can watch the entire show here. But the bit I was interested in starts from 08:10 onwards (grammar is my own interpretation of pauses etc)

“Within that social welfare budget I’d like to say this…. See, there are those who cannot work, the disabled, the carers, pensioners and the children. They can’t work”

As part of a discussion on social welfare, Mr Kenny said this and I doubt many people heard. I’m almost reluctant to comment on, for fear I will be misunderstood and because I’m quite possibly bringing more attention to soemthing I wish hadn’t been said.  And given that the context is quite clear (relating to social welfare), please make no mistake – I laud his determination to ensure that those who cannot work have their payments protected. What bothers me, is that if he presumes that if all disabled people cannot work, then that perception remains and there is a risk that it becomes self fulfilling. As long as being disabled is equated with not being able to work, then every disabled person first has to convince an employer they are able to work, before even trying to convince them they can do the job

This isn’t a post about Enda Kenny, but rather meant to be one which challenges that kind of casual, well intentioned prejudice. Such blanket statements do no one any favours as they do not accurately reflect the situation and experiences of disabled people, and reinforce the very attitudes and beliefs I try to challenge.  Statements like that permeate our thinking, and our perceptions, and how we act and percieve others. For disabled people who are working and can work, this is the kind of small but crucial attitudinal issue they have to challenge every day.

… was a great success! I’m very happy with how the event went and loved the Science Gallery as a venue. If you’ve just stopped by here today for the first time, hello and thank you!

I’m off to the ERA campaign conference today, so notes from last night won’t go up until tonight/ tomorrow, but please do feel free to leave any feedback or further comments from last night below, and do come back and let me know if I’ve summarised the discussion properly!

If you’re interested in a copy of the publication (“Demystifying Disability in the Workplace”) that was launched last night by the very entertaining Senator David Norris, please drop me an email at getahead AT ahead.ie with your contact details.

This evening, in the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin, from 6pm, we have an event that I’ve been organising and one which is a little different for us, being much shorter than our regular conferences and as an evening event, will hopefully suit some more people. I’m looking forward to seeing how the format unfolds, to using the Science Gallery as a venue and most importantly, to what we’re actually doing and seeing how it’s received.

The point of the event is twofold. We want to launch WAM’s new publication, “Demystifying Disability in the Workplace”, which Senator David Norris has kindly agreed to do. And, we want to use the time to discuss one of the more confusing elements of disability in the workplace – reasonable accommodations.

The publication is born out of WAM’s experiences over the last 4 years, and it’s been informed by what managers and employers have told us, by what we’ve learnt from them and from graduates in the workplace. The primary motivation for the booklet is to provided practical guidelines for organisations on tackling everyday issues that arise in the recruitment and management of people with disabilities. It is in tended as an instrument for managers, supervisors and related personnel.  We hope that sharing that learning will mean that the same situations don’t keep coming up time and time again, so that we can progress in our ultimate aim, which is to see more and more people with disabilities having full access to and participation in an inclusive workforce.

The evening kicks off at 6, there’ll be refreshments available, and we’ll be done by 7:30 at the latest (but you can stay a little longer too!) If you want to come and can’t stay, do drop in, say hello and pick up a copy of the book. There’s not much point in writing about demystifying disability in the workplace, and having the book only sitting in our workplace! Either way, we’d love to see you.

This Tuesday evening (17th November) I’ll be in Cork (actually I’ll be there all day, at the Better Options fair in the morning) but the evening’s event is something different. Myself and the USI Equality Officer (Linda) and Emily (the Disability Rights Officer) have been talking about how to ensure that we hear what is going on for students with disabilities on the ground, in colleges. So USI has organised a series of events for different groups, taking place all around the country over the next four months. The first one is in Cork, tomorrow evening, 6pm in UCC. I’m very much looking forward to it, and looking forward to hearing what people have to say.

AHEAD Launch & Learn event, Monday 23rd November, 6pm, Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin

This short evening event will offer the chance to pick up our latest publication “Demystifying Disability in the Workplace” which will be launched by Senator David Norris and to help further the development of learning around reasonable accommodations in the workplace. We would be delighted if you would note the date in your diary, and share this information with anyone you think may be interested (for example, employers, hr personnel, managers, disability officers, careers officers, students and graduates with disabilities).

For further information, watch this space! (or of course you can email me) If you’d like to come, I’d appreciate if you could let me know, so that I can keep an eye on numbers.

This morning AHEAD will launch the Charter on Inclusive Teaching and Learning. You can download a copy here (see link at end of page)

Here’s our statement released last night:

Charter on Inclusive Teaching and Learning seeks to create a more equal world for students with disabilities

The Charter of Inclusive Teaching and Learning is being launched by Dr. Mary Liz Trant of the HEA on 3^rd November 2009 in the Clarence Hotel. Produced by AHEAD (the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability) the Charter is endorsed by the Irish Universities Association, the National Access Office, the Irish Universities Quality Board, the Teachers Union of Ireland and the Disability Advisors Working Network and  Access Officers .

The Charter lays out the minimum components required for inclusive education, in all aspects of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. It strives to describe and encourage the good practices that should be consistently delivered across all third level education to all students, as opposed to the current situation where individuals are setting excellent examples of such practice, in patches across the country.

These practices are proven to work, not only for students with disabilities, but for all students.  Applications from students with disabilities and specific learning difficulties to higher education institutions are surging, with an increase up of 25% each year.  There are now over 4,000 students with disabilities studying in higher education and these students can learn and want to learn but they learn differently, for example by using e-books and other technology to read and write.

Ann Heelan, Director of AHEAD said “The biggest barrier to making changes stick is stereotypical assumptions by some staff who fail to see the potential behind the disability or appreciate the need to alter the way they teach.   The challenge for institutions is to change how they operate so they have the capacity to meet the different learning requirements of a diverse group of students. In the current economic climate this approach improves the quality of our teaching but has little or no additional costs.”

Next Tuesday, November 3rd,  AHEAD is launching a Charter on Inclusive Teaching in Learning. It’s endorsed by Irish Universities Association,  the National Access Office, the Irish Universities Quality Board, the Teachers Union of Ireland and the Disability Advisors Working Network and  Access Officers.

It’s a great achievement and one I’m rather excited about. We launched Good Practice Guidelines in 2008 and last April we held a Symposium on Inclusive Teaching and Learning based on the guidelines, at which we were trying to begin the process which has resulted in this Charter.  No one is going to read Good Practice Guidelines (it’s a very substantial 144 page book) from start to finish and that was never the idea. It was created as a reference point, a drop in document.  The Charter is the next step.

The aim of the Charter is to be a simple, outline of the key points of good practice in relation to inclusive teaching and learning. It is aimed at including disabled students in higher education, but honestly, the vast majority of the points make for better teaching for all students. Hopefully it will mean that pockets of excellence in teaching will be come the standard, the norm, rather than the rarity. Best of all, changing teaching practices doesn’t have to cost.

I’ll post the link to the charter and press release on Tuesday.

Dear Students with AD/HD,

A new student support group has been organised for AD/HD college students. Assistance was provided from other sources; however, the group was created largely by AD/HD students for AD/HD students.
The group will meet for the first time on the 26th October 2009, up stairs in Doyle’s Pub on College Street, Dublin 2, at 7pm. Future meetings will be held on the last Monday of every month at the same time and location.

Developing awareness and understanding of AD/HD and it’s implications as a student and beyond, is key to managing AD/HD effectively. This is achieved by learning about the condition, and also socialising with other student who face the same challenges.

Group meetings will be informal events. Participation, and/ or involvement, in the organising of meeting and running of the group, is up to the members. Topics, issues, format, set up, etc… is flexible; we would like everyone to get involved in different aspects of the group. Input from everyone is welcome, but not required.

We will also have a bit of fun along the way!
We look forward to seeing you there,

Kate and Stiofan
Contact: adhdstudents@hotmail.com

Myself and John Paul from WAM will be at the Graduate Careers Fair in the RDS all day tomorrow. It starts at 11 and runs till 5 and you can check out their site here

More importantly, at 3:30 I’ll be giving a short seminar which will cover all the extra aspects of jobseeking that are useful for graduates and students with disabilities to know: disclosure, grants and funding, legislation and the availability of other projects and supports. It’s the ideal time to get an overview of things that you should consider if you are a graduate with a disability, or for that matter, someone who is supporting/ advising a graduate with a disability. All the matierial is taken from Get Ready for Work, so it really is an overview of the extra stuff – I won’t be going near CVs, interview skills, what job you should do, or anything like that, because that’s all covered by others whose speciality it is. For more information about the timetable of seminars you can check here.

Obviously, we’ll be at the stand all day to answer any questions and would be very happy to see you, but I would encourage you to drop along to the seminar, it’s just a half an hour and could answer many of your questions in a more useful way.

As I’ve said before, events like this are what you make of them, and I’ve outlined some suggestions here, and so have GradIreland, here.

If you’re there tomorrow, do drop by, and do enjoy the day. Opportunities can be exciting and challenging, and that can be something to relish and enjoy!

I’m always reminding my colleagues that this blog isn’t just for me, it’s for them, and for you too. So this post was written by John-Paul, (WAM Research Officer) and comments will be answered by him too!

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The following quote got me thinking about what exactly is the aim of our education system;

‘…the idea of education being the key to economic growth is no more than a myth. Of course, both individually and nationally, basic numeracy and literacy are essential for workers in a strong economy, but once they are achieved, which is the case by the age of eleven for most of the populations of the developed world, then, incredibly, there is absolutely no evidence that a nation’s economic growth benefits from further investment in education’ (James 2007:296).

The statement is taken from Oliver James’ book Affluenza which highlights how the line between needs and wants is becoming increasingly blurred in societies where status is linked to occupation and wealth. But this specific statement got me thinking; what exactly is the purpose of education? In other words, what is the ultimate goal for our third level education system? Is it to supply skilled, productive profit-makers, create socially and politically aware citizens, or simply to produce people who are content pursuing careers of interest?

The moral of the story usually goes something like; investment in education leads to more students attending third level – producing an increased number of qualified graduates – resulting in a strong, thriving economy and therefore one tiny smiling island. James, however, would ask for the evidence.

Education and economy have always been linked but the recent economic boom and now bust have highlighted the increasing influence they have on each other. So much so that it could be argued a large proportion of college going students chose their courses based on the likelihood of well-paid jobs at the end. Two examples further illustrate this point:

1. The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the early noughties (hate that word but I had no choice) resulted in a decrease in the number of students choosing to take up IT/Computer related subjects at third level.
2. The 2009 CAO application process saw a collapse in points for courses linked to the property market. This may be a consequence of students shying away from these courses due to perceived poor career prospects. In fact first preference for property-related courses was down 26% from 2008 CAO applications. Other notable statistics include;

• architecture in UCD down 20 points, in UL down 30 points
• construction management in DIT down 55 points
• property economics in DIT down 50 points
• civil engineering in UCD down 60 points (Irish Times, August 17^th 2009)

Does course choice on those CAO forms come down to a battle between interests/passions and money?

Being a researcher myself, I would love to see research conducted which investigated why CAO applicants chose their first preference. Or why they chose to go to college at all. The results may provide a glimpse at what those being educated think education is for. An important thing in my book.

What do you think? What is the purpose of third level education?

Think back…why did you go for that choice when applying on the CAO form? Or, more generally, why did you choose to go to college at all?