The 2015 Disability Careers Expo is set for 22 and 23 April at Hope School in Westcliff, Johannesburg.
According to the event organisers, from an HR perspective, the expo is an opportunity that allows businesses and HR managers from a variety of companies, many in the IT space, to interact with potential employees who are disabled.
The expo, which debuted in 2012, is an initiative between special needs school, Hope School, and Mandeville Disability Swimming.
Its focus is to help launch youngsters with disabilities into careers that are right for them through formal employment, jobs, learnerships or bursaries; and in so doing, to deliver a service to employers or HR departments for a small fee.
The expo organisers say Section 18A tax certificates in respect of the fee, as well as letters of endorsement for BEE purposes, are provided to exhibitors.
Asked if the local IT industry was doing enough to absorb students with disabilities, Paddy Slattery, one of the organisers of the event, says although there are some organisations that are employing people with disabilities (PWD) students, most are probably not absorbing enough.
"The target set by government for the employment of PWDs is 2% of each workforce and we have no reports yet of many mainstream organisations achieving this. We do know of great efforts on the part of some large organisations, one of them in the call centre space. Government recently reported on itself as achieving in the order of 0.5%, way down on its own target. We would be pleasantly surprised to learn that the IT industry is ahead of the game," Slattery says.
He believes awareness is probably the key to ensuring more PWDs are hired. In addition, he states, it is important to know how to recruit PWDs as well as the implications of employing PWDs.
Companies may have concerns around aspects such as accessibility which may deter organisations housed in old buildings, Slattery points out.
"As such, we attempt to provide knowledge about how to address all the issues around employing PWDs through the opportunity to network as well as through our keynote speakers. Our exhibitors include disability associations, universities and organisations with a track record of placing PWDs."
He explains that as is seen in other graduate industries, it is possible that companies do not always take into account that not everyone in the organisation needs to be a university or tertiary graduate.
"There are entry-level clerical, data-capture, call centre, and administrative posts, for example, that could provide a starting point for PWDs who do not have tertiary qualifications and will allow an opportunity for them to grow in the organisation."
So far the expo has confirmation 300 to 350 learners will attend.
"We hope for approximately 400 learners to be present," says Slattery. "We invite schools to bring Grade 10s, 11s and 12s along so that they can start to think about life after school earlier in their school curriculum.
"We are trying to build a sustainable database to house the CVs that have been and are being submitted and track the progress of the submitters over time, thus to create something valid and up-to-date that potential employers can access with ease and confidence. We would love assistance in this regard from an IT expert, company or IT training college."
IT companies that want to participate in the event can send an e-mail to pvslattery@gmail.com or call Slattery on 082 807 6948 for further information.
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