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Finding out about employment
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At the car wash
While we are developing the site behind the scenes, here are some external sources you may find useful:
Government sites:
There are a number of government resources regarding employment for people with learning disabilities. These are principally available from:
Directgov: We recommend this site, partly because it contains government information on a whole range of issues, and also because it provides a wealth of information on rights, services, advice (e.g. such as on disabled people visiting museums), contacts etc. Directgov is ´the place to turn for the widest range of government information and services´. Users can browse by audience groups such as 'disabled people' and 'parents' or by topics including 'money, tax and benefits', 'employment´.
Jobcentreplus: This is the government´s employment agency. It has a section for people with (general) disabilities,
which gives general advice to people with disabilities about employment services. It also has links to information sheets from Mencap and to other relevant websites.
Other sites of interest:
1. Sites specific to the disabled learning community
Downs syndrome association: the UK site: includes a downloadable booklet entitled: A guide to employment issues for people with Down's syndrome
Macintyre: Macintyre is a national charity providing lifelong education, care and support to children and adults with learning disabilities. The attraction of the site is its workbooks for young people at the ´transition´ stage between school and work or training. The workbooks, which can be downloaded, cover a number of different areas and ´encourage you to focus on your choices and opportunities for the future (and) work through these workbooks on your own or with family and friends´. One of the workbooks looks at some of the choices and options available regarding work opportunities
Moving On Up: A site recommended for its accessible language. It has a section on ´learning and working´ which goes through issues inherent in obtaining supported and independent employment.
Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability. It is another website that uses accessible language (and supplements this with audio). Mencap has produced a large number of booklets, available online, giving all kinds of information.
2. Sites helping people with any disability
Connexions: Connexions gives advice and support to adolescents from 13-19, and up to the age of 25 for young people who have learning difficulties or physical disabilities (or both).
Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities: You won´t find much advice on the website itself, but we feel that the organisation is a useful one to know about, because it provides a network of regional offices dedicated to helping people with disabilities find work.
We recommend this site as it is involved in so many ways to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. In particular it promotes their rights, quality of life and opportunities. It works with people with learning disabilities, their families and those who support them.
The Foundation website includes a number of useful fact-sheets, including:
· Daytime opportunities for people with learning disabilities.
· Employment for people with learning disabilities
This is an excellent site to actually search for a job – rather than obtain advice about employment. Jobability is a recruitment site which claims to be ´for disabled people´. However, it actually seems to cater for everyone – in fact, there is little on the site that is specifically for the disabled user. Nevertheless, the site boasts more than 80,000 disabled jobseekers using the site to look for work, and the companies who advertise are committed to recruiting people with special needs/disabilities etc.
This is another site which has links to current job advertisements. This is a good site for practical information such as:
· How to write a CV
· Interview skills
· Support available.
The ´work´ section of Youreable includes links to various other sites containing job advertisements, and there is also an extremely comprehensive information service on the site, for both employers and employees.