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COMMENT
COMMENT
The scandal of the 94 per cent
ISSN 0951-9815 n this issue we have highlighted the scandalous position of people with learning
Volume 31, No. 1, Autumn 2017
I disabilities in relation to employment. Official figures show that less than 6% of
Published by: adults with learning disabilities known to local authorities are in employment.
C.L. Initiatives Ltd
No. 6 The Square, This compares to 48% for all disabled people, and 75% for the general population.
Waterhouse Green As Julie Ridley reports, (pp. 20-21) employment rates are in fact falling, despite the
Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley assumption of employability for all that has underpinned successive government policy.
Lancashire PR6 7LF 94% of people with learning disabilities – yes, 94% – are unemployed, and for most
Tel. 0125 727 0430 of them employment has probably never even been considered as an option. This is a
Subscription enquiries: shocking waste of human potential, all the worse for taking place in a society with high
Rosemary Trustam employment and job vacancy levels.
Tel. 0125 727 0430
rosecli@btinternet.com People with learning disabilities find themselves very much at the bottom of the
C.L. Initiatives Ltd
(address as above) unemployment scrapheap, and by a very long way. Yet, as many of our articles show,
people are willing to work and repeatedly show themselves, when given the chance,
Editor to be skilled, reliable and helpful employees.
Simon Jarrett
simonj@jarr.demon.co.uk
Why then is the situation so dire? A number of factors contribute. First, there is a
Consultant Editor culture of low expectations that surrounds people with learning disabilities.
Elinor Harbridge They are seen not as contributing citizens but as ‘service users’, people who need to be
elinorharbridge@btinternet.com positioned passively on the receiving end of care throughout their lives. These low
01643 822513
Mob.0789 9058 933 expectations are drummed in from an early stage – most pupils at special schools are
not asked what jobs they want to do when they are older, nor do most get the
Social Media Editor opportunity to do work experience. All this takes place within a social culture that
Rosemary Trustam values work and the ability to ‘contribute’. Excluding people from the workplace
Twitter: @CommLivingmag
Facebook: /www.facebook.com/ reflects the low esteem in which they are held. We all need a reason to get up in
CommunityLivingMagazine the morning.
Digital Marketing Consultant Second, large-scale national and local government employment initiatives have
Anna Roper consistently failed people with learning disabilities over many years. Too often, they
anna@fieldmouse.co
have been based on endless classroom learning for a state of ‘job-readiness’ which is
Research rarely achieved, leaving people in a Catch-22 state of limbo – they can only work if they
Julie Ridley, are job-ready, and they can never achieve job-readiness.
Reader in Social Policy & Practice, UCLan
Photographer Our examples show that concrete job experience, with on-the-job learning,
Seán Kelly supportive job coaches and mentors and open-minded employers, within a culture of
www.seankellyphotos.com high expectations, enable people with learning disabilities to become valued, skilled
Legal Correspondent long-term employees. For these employees, work opens up a whole new world of
Belinda Schwehr, LLM opportunity hitherto denied to them. Our feature on Project SEARCH (see pp. 14-15)
Legal Framework Trainer & Consultant in particular, shows how, given the chance, people can shrug off the stereotypes and
Care and Health Law achieve beyond society’s wildest expectations.
belinda@careandhealthlaw.com
Publisher All our examples show how small-scale projects, tailored to the individuals they
Rosemary Trustam support, can enable people to make the transition from benefit dependency to
rosecli@btinternet.com individual and economic independence. Government needs to learn from these

Editorial Board approaches and stop imposing clumsy, top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions that do
Jo Clare, CEO, Three Cs not work.
Noelle Blackman, CEO, Respond
Tony Bamforth CEO, The Elfrida Society Climb every mountain
Jo Adshead, CEO, Linkability
Sue Pemberton, CEO, Integrate Ltd e report in our news section (page 4) on the achievement of Andrew Harris,
Jane Lloyd & Debbie Forde, Senior W a 32 year old American with learning disabilities, who has successfully climbed
Lecturers, School of Social Work, UCLan a challenging 13,000 feet mountain in Wyoming. Our congratulations to him – as the
Beth Tarleton, Senior Research Fellow,
Norah Fry Research Centre American Down’s Syndrome Society stated: “People with Down’s syndrome are
Sally Warren, MD, Paradigm, capable of doing what we are all capable of doing, and sometimes more.”
Rosemary Trustam, Gill Levy, We cannot all be superhumans like Andrew and nor should we have to be.
Gabby Machell, CEO, and Mandy Crowford, However, his achievement neatly reflects the challenges that many people with
Adult Services Manager, Westminster Society, learning disabilities lead every day – they often have mountains to climb, simply to
Elinor Harbridge, Simon Jarrett
demonstrate to the rest of society that they can work, or have social lives, or live
Designed and printed by independently, or get married, or deserve respect and equality. These mountains are
Character Graphics, Taunton, no less difficult to climb than The Grand Teton in Wyoming. Andrew Harris’s
tel. 01823 279008
achievement was his own, but he was supported by his sister and brother-in-law to do
© C.L. Initiatives Ltd 2017 it. It is the job of society to provide that support to each individual as they climb their
Registered Charity No. 1141176 own mountains, not to leave them at the bottom wondering how it feels to look down
Company No. 7530680
from the heights. Simon Jarrett
www.cl-initiatives.co.ukww.cl-initiatives.co.uk
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