Combatting Young Disabled People’s Worklessness

Samenvatting

This 18 month research project has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust to develop an international academic network addressing the urgent problem of young disabled people’s worklessness. Problems include the barriers to and often fractured pathways of disabled young people’s access to paid employment.

Academics from social policy, economics, labour market studies, psychology, rehabilitation, public health and health geographies are working together to address this issue in a way that emphasises knowledge exchange between academia, government and disabled people’s organisations. The first successful symposium was held in Durham in September 2013 with further events scheduled. Presentation materials and further resources are published on this website as they become available.

The network began on 1 September 2013 with a formative ideas-sharing symposium that brought together academics and researchers interested in disability, youth worklessness and exclusion. The event aimed to connect previous disparate thinking and to galvanise thought on both the challenges faced and international responses to young disabled people’s worklessness.

The Netherlands network symposium took place on May 6, 2014 in Amsterdam. DSiN took part in this symposium.

The network will run until December 2016.

Project website

Doelstelling

Disabled Young People and Worklessness Network

This international network aims to explore the very urgent issue of the barriers to and often fractured pathways of disabled young people’s access to paid employment. The network is made up of leading researchers in the field of disability, health and paid work, bringing together for the first time experts from social policy, economics, labour market studies, psychology, rehabilitation, public health and health geographies to address this pivotal issue. The latest academic, policy and experiential evidence is used in a reflexive way that maximises knowledge exchange between academia, government and disabled people’s organisations.

Methode

To complement the breadth afforded by the symposium, three country seminars are being staged in the USA (Ithaca), Netherlands (Amsterdam) and the Czech Republic (Prague) to work with additional invited country experts to ‘drill down’ in to country challenges and responses. Wherever possible the lead researchers are linking up with key organisations of disabled young people during the country seminar events. Through this they are gauging ground-level insights from disabled young people: finding out just what supports or limits their journey and aspirations to paid work. International differences are being explored and will be brought back to a summative symposium which will involve both core and associate network members. The network will run until December 2016.

Projectinformatie

This project was financed by the Leverhulme Trust

Period: September 2013 - January 2015

Research line

(Arbeids)participatie

Status

Afgerond

Year completed

2015

Personen

Researchers/ authors

Edwin de Vos

Researchers / project members

Edwin de Vos

People or organisations involved in the project

Edwin de Vos, Alice Schippers, Jacqueline Kool, Irene van Helden, Karin van den Bosch, Lineke van Hal e.a.

Leverhulme International Network on Disabled Young People and Worklessness

Network Core Partners:
The partners chosen have major standing in disability, health and contemporary workplace research. Each provides a specific disciplinary grasp of worklessness and factors supporting paid work. The partners in the network are:

University of Leeds (Lead HEI; Sociology and Social Policy) Professor Alan Roulstone and Dr Sarah Woodin
Durham University (UK) Professor Clare Bambra, Dr Jon Warren, Dr Kayleigh Garthwaite (Health geographies and public health)
Cornell University (USA) Professor Susanne Bruyere (Rehabilitation Psychology)
Katedra Specialni Pedagogicka (Czech Republic) Professor Jan Siska (Inclusive Education).
TNO (Netherlands) Dr Edwin De Vos (Labour Market and Active Inclusion)
Humboldt University (Germany) Dr Lisa Pfahl (Sociology of youth/labour)

Leverhulme Trust