Dys in Education Professional life and Work – DysinEduProWork
Persons with disabilities are more at risk of poverty or social exclusion. They face challenges with educational attainment and employment outcomes. In European countries, there are disparities related to neurodiversity. Some countries are more invested in it than others, or they started to work on inclusion earlier. Inclusion is not only a national and a European issue but also a global one. Its scope and dimension in Europe can be seen in the numbers provided on Eurostat and in several EU reports highlighting the high percentage of people with disabilities not currently involved in education, training, or working life, as well as the data on the disbalance between EU member states regarding inclusive educational settings and environments. The data shows the imperative need for organizations to act at an EU level, collaborating with stakeholders in several member countries with diverse national realities to reach more uniform, balanced, and fair inclusion rates in mainstream education throughout the EU.
The DysinEduProWork project aims to fill the gap of the lack of inclusiveness among people with SLD in the professional sphere supporting them by providing tools and knowledge to help fight the barriers that stop individuals with Dys disorders from succeeding in their working lives. The labour market is already complex and hard as it is for VET graduates without disabilities, but it can be an insurmountable obstacle for people with invisible disabilities if accommodations are not put in place and information is not spread to increase awareness.
DysinEduProWork aims to provide a support guide as an eLearning module and a toolkit to help prepare for the job selection process, interviews, and career progression and also empower people with SLD by the experience of other employed neurodiverse people’s stories. The project also aims to put a special emphasis on helping neurodiverse people from disadvantaged backgrounds and at risk of marginalization due to their learning disorders. This project acknowledges the needs of VET learners and graduates to thrive in the workforce, where accommodations for neurodiverse people and information about invisible disabilities have been scarce.
We will create an entirely new platform with an eLearning module, templates, tools, and fiches. All resources will be available online, to provide a high quality and flexible way of navigating the content. The partners of this project will conduct a thorough research and analysis of the current situation in the EU labour market to better direct the rest of their efforts. We will also create a support directory to inform where people can find support in the countries of the partnership.
In addition, we will produce an eLearning guide for workers, to support job search, find a suitable job, share and discuss their disabilities in an online community. We will also create a digital toolbox, a self-assessment tool for job search and a job selection & progress tool.
For employers, we will create a comprehensive guide with resources on neurodiversity and support material for hiring neurodiverse staff. A task blueprint module will be created to help with job processes overall, and employers will have access to templates online that apply to their situation as well as information on each learning disorder and its characteristics.
All produced project materials will be free and in open license after it will be tested. The partnership will take into consideration their feedback, advice, and recommendations and will enrich and refine the materials to better meet the needs of the stakeholders.
Check the project blog and follow partners’ social media to stay informed about our resources!
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
(Project code: 2022-2-IE01-KA220-VET-000097062)