NDA Submissions on Reasonable Accommodation
In 2022 the Department of Social Protection held a public consultation on its Reasonable Accommodation Fund. Read the NDA's submission here.
We have also provided input to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission who are developing a Code of Practice on Reasonable Accommodation.
Reasonable Accommodations: Obstacles and Opportunities to the Employment of Persons with a Disability
The provision of reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities is crucial in addressing the unique barriers - physical, organisational and attitudinal – that can be experienced in accessing, progressing in and retaining employment.
As a response to ongoing concerns expressed by both persons with disabilities and employers about barriers to attaining and providing reasonable accommodations, and the lack of documented good practice in this area, we produced a report on reasonable accommodations.
The 'Reasonable Accommodations: Obstacles and Opportunities to the Employment of Persons with a Disability' report aimed to.
- To identify the practical obstacles in the way of a seamless reasonable accommodation process from the perspective of employers, employees and potential employees
- To highlight good practices as to how these obstacles can be addressed
This work was undertaken in the context of Strategic Priority Six of the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities 2015-2024, which seeks to advance employer engagement.
The report includes a literature review and a select review of Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court decisions relating to reasonable accommodation under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015.
Bilateral and focus group consultations, including with persons with disabilities, were also undertaken to inform the report.
The main barriers to a seamless reasonable accommodation identified included issues around disclosure, lack of policies and procedures, failure to respond to requests for accommodations in a timely manner, low awareness regarding the whole area of reasonable accommodations and the type of supports currently available, and lack of follow-up regarding implemented accommodations.
Reasonable Accommodations for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder
This paper published in 2015 presents information on good practice in supporting people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to obtain employment. The paper draws on a number of sources of information including learning from an NDA seminar on autism and employment held in 2012.
We note that the term ‘Autistic People’ is preferred to ‘People with Autism Spectrum Disorder’ by many autistic people. When this report is updated this language issue will be addressed.