Empowering Our Future
Supporting People with Disabilities into employment and self Employment
Empowering Our Future Conference took place on 7th of March 2024. The aim of the conference was to start the necessary conversations with a range of relevant stakeholders and compile a list of feasible and achievable actions in 2024 to support persons with disabilities in Dublin into employment and self-employment.
The conference was hosted as part of Dublin City Council’s Inclusion and Integration Week at the Mansion House, Dublin and was supported by Dublin City Council, TU Dublin and Dublin City Local Enterprise Office. Persons with disabilities, carers and individuals from across disability advocacy groups and disability friendly organisations were in attendance.
There were four sessions that took place. The first of these set the scene in terms of the main aims of the event, as well as contextualizing the political and cultural backdrop to the lives of persons with disabilities living in Ireland today. The second session was a panel on supporting self employment for persons with disabilities. This panel sought to uncover the main actions that need to be taken to enhance opportunities for persons with disabilities to become self-employed or entrepreneurs.
The third session was a panel on supporting employment for persons with disabilities. This panel sought to uncover the main actions that need to be taken to enhance opportunities for persons with disabilities to enter mainstream employment.
The MC Jonathan Healy led the final session with a summarisation of the actions identified through the previous sessions. The Lord Mayor called on those present to share two or three actionable items that could be implemented at the local level, and a commitment was made to implement the key actions in 2024. This report surmises the main actions identified through the conference and the subsequent submission of actions from its attendees.
