Disability and student employability

It is important that disabled students can acquire the same employability attributes as other students on the same course. They may need special help with employment and this can be provided through university Careers Services, disability services and Action on Access.

DDA Part 4 applies to careers services, so for example buildings and facilities must be accessible, materials may be required in alternative formats and careers advisors should be aware of the range potential student needs. The Disability Rights Commission (now part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) produced an online guide for careers service providers outlining the services they may need to provide for disabled students. There is also a disability issues network for careers advisers called the Disability Development Network (DDN) this operates via AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) and your institution's careers service should be able to tell you more.

Work experience and work placements, if relevant, may also play a part in the employability of a student. DDA and SENDA apply to work placements and work experience, for example if a student has a year-long placement in industry. So institutions may need to ensure that work placement providers have received training in disability equality and how to work with disabled students, audits for accessibility may need to be carried out and disabled students may need support in finding a placement that meets their requirements.

• Accessibility of Laboratory practicals, field trips and work placements, by Phil Gravestock includes general principles to consider, checklists and a bibliography of additional resources, both electronic and printed
• Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities produce a series of "Into work" booklets which bring together advice and information for disabled people on finding work and work placements, experiences of disabled people of in work and work placements and a number of organisations who could provide advice and information, available from Skill through their bookshop. They also provide information sheets on the transition into employment and their online publication 'Get that Job' is helpful.
• The Toolkits for Success project at the University of Manchester has a wide range of information and resources for students, academics, employers, placement suppliers and placement providers regarding employment and placements for disabled students.
• Providing work placements for disabled students by the DfES (now the Dius) is a guide for institutions and individuals (e.g. placement organisers) and considers setting up, running and evaluating placements.
• 'Clearly Better', an article in the Guardian Newspaper (June 2006), discusses how recruitment tests and practices used by graduate employers can be made more accessible for blind and visually impaired students.

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