North Swindon MP and Minister for Disabled People Justin Tomlinson has been encouraging employers to #thinkdifferently and embrace the benefits of employing someone with a learning disability.
As part of National Learning Disability Work Week, Justin attended an event with Mencap, a national charity supporting and advocating for people with a learning disability.
The event discussed how to help more people with a learning disability into work and encourage employers to unlock the potential of people with a learning disability by giving them meaningful employment.
As Minster of Disabled People, Justin has been passionate about showing employers the benefits of hiring people with a disability, and has led the way by holding disability employment events in his North Swindon constituency.
In 2019, the employment rate for adults with any disability was 52%, meaning that for the first time ever more disabled people were in work than not. The key to this has been the Government’s Disability Confident Scheme, which has broken a number of the barriers to employment that are faced by people with disabilities. In addition to this, the Government’s Access to Work Scheme has greatly helped employers make necessary adaptions to enable them to hire someone with a disability.
Justin Tomlinson said: “Mencap have done amazing work over the years to support people with a learning disability, and it was a pleasure to join them during Learning Disability Work Week. I have seen first-hand how employment can build confidence and increase independence for people with a learning disability – I have also seen how much it benefits the employer. I will continue to press on employers the huge number of benefits people with learning difficulties bring to the workforce, and work to increase employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities.”
