Ireland’s Conference: Enhancing Lives of Disabled with Awareness & Support

Conference


The conference highlights the importance of awareness and social support in improving the lives of people with disabilities in Ireland.

A multidisciplinary research conference is being held at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) today, 16 September 2014, highlighting a range of current disability policy issues in Ireland.

The ‘Disability Through the Lifecourse’ event brings together ESRI research, which deals with a range of topics that are hugely relevant to the development of disability policy, including children with disabilities, disability, work and adulthood, mental health and costs of disability.

The research highlights the barriers to inclusion for children and adults with disabilities in Ireland within education, the labor market, and adult life.

Professor of Inclusion and Diversity at the University of Edinburgh Sheila Riddell will give the keynote address at the conference, presenting research on social class, disability, and gender.

Some key findings to be presented include: children with special educational needs are more likely to report not liking school than their
 peers, they have fewer friends and more negative peer relations, and the labor market participation of people with disabilities appears low in Ireland by European standards.