Two in three deaf young people would hide their deafness on a job application
Deaf charity says some advise for youngsters isn't fit for purpose
Last updated 4th Mar 2020
A local Charity for deaf young children is calling on the Government, education bodies and schools across Northern Ireland to ensure young deaf children get specialists careers advice.
The call comes after The National Deaf Children’s Society launched the findings of their new report, which the organisation conducted as part of their ‘Deaf Works Everywhere’ campaign.
The new scheme aims to get more deaf young people into work and for advice to be tailored to include information about deaf-specific support and technology.
The organisation also wants information and advice to take into consideration the range of communication needs deaf young people have.
100.deaf young people took part in the survey and the results showed two thirds of them would hide their deafness on a job application, because they were worried about being overlooked for a job position.
The statistics also showed that 90% of participants aren’t aware of funding that is available to them for example, Access to Work - a UK Government-funded grant for disabled people.
Figures from the report also highlighted that almost half of participants feel they aren’t being supported by their school or college when thinking about future career choices and job aspirations.
Aliyah Black (19) from Dungannon is one of the National Deaf Children’s Society’s young campaigners. She said:
“I wanted to work on this campaign because I’m passionate about changing things for future deaf young people.
“Deaf children can achieve anything in life, they just need the same support that other children get.
“I’m really excited to see what other deaf young people can do and Deaf Works Everywhere is a really good way of highlighting some of their incredible achievements.”
Alasdair O’Hara, Head of Policy and Influencing for Northern Ireland at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:
“With the right support in place, deaf young people can work in almost any job.
“However, they need better information on moving into work and tailored careers advice because it’s critical to increasing their employment chances.
“This crucial support must be in place and information on support systems like Access to Work needs to be clearly promoted and completely accessible, yet this report shows that some services in Northern Ireland have a lot of work to do.
“Those that aren’t delivering for deaf young people need to urgently improve the quality of support they’re offering.”
Minister for Education, Peter Weir said:
“The importance of this new campaign cannot be underestimated because it seeks to address and overcome the challenges faced by our deaf young people.
“It is especially welcome as it has been created in partnership with deaf young people across the UK.
“It is wonderful to see organisations like this who are committed to helping young people overcome the barriers they face in order to live successful and fulfilling lives.”