There has been an increase in the proportion of adults with Down syndrome who are in paid employment.
According to Down Syndrome Ireland (DSI), in 2018 about 6% of adults with Down syndrome were in paid employment, that number is now up to 14%.
Today is World Down Syndrome Day and DSI is highlighting the progress that has been made with its National Employment Programme.
Launched in 2018, the programme is designed to provide employment opportunities to DSI members like Rachel Coen.
She has been working at Lidl in Lucan, Co Dublin for the last two years.
Rachel loves the job and her favourite part of the day is stocking the freezers with store manager Adrian.
“I stock the freezers and I clean the glass but my hands never get cold because I wear gloves,” Rachel said.
“I like working with Adrian, he’s the best manager ever. He’s always looking after me,” she added.
Seven DSI members are currently employed at Lidl stores.
“Not only do the people who join the team greatly enjoy the work, but colleagues who work with them really enjoy it too,” said HR Operations Director at Lidl Denise White-Hughes.
“They bring a huge amount to the team, they bring cultural enrichment and everyone really enjoys it,” she added.
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To date, DSI has supported more than 300 adults with Down syndrome into jobs nationwide and 95% of them have retained their jobs long-term.
This has been done through developing direct links with employers across a variety of sectors including retail, hospitality, leisure, office admin, beauty and pharma.
The ambition of Down Syndrome Ireland is to create more than 100 new sustainable jobs per year through its employment programme.
“A big thing our members say to us is that they want to be like their siblings,” said Aoife Gaffney Head of Employment at DSI.
“They want to be able to move out of home, go to college and get a job, so it has a huge impact on the people with Down syndrome and their families as well,” she added.
World Down Syndrome Day takes place on 21 March every year to celebrate people with Down syndrome all over the world.
This year’s theme is ‘Support Our Dreams’, promoting the message that everyone has the right to support and the right to dream big.
