Employment struggles for Kent's SEND community

Less than seven percent of adults with learning disabilities in the South East have been able to find employment.  Connie Bowker reports.

Transcript

00:00Grow 19 is home to the Centre Café. Here, 18 to 25 year olds with additional needs are

00:06able to gain employable skills they wouldn't otherwise get.

00:10So a lot of our learners, if they weren't here within college, would either be at home

00:15or would be in a service provision.

00:20I want to be a bartender. I want to leave here and get either an apprenticeship or supported

00:25or more apprenticeship as a bartender.

00:29Kent County Council say only 54% of disabled people in the county are currently in work,

00:36compared to more than 80% of the general population.

00:39However, this data includes all disabilities. For those with learning disabilities, the

00:45numbers are far lower. The Charity Mencap found only 6.9% of adults with learning disabilities

00:52were in employment across the South East.

00:55Five Acre Wood in Maidstone is a special school for pupils aged 3 to 19. They have

01:01adopted a similar scheme for their students, called the 4Eent Express.

01:05We desperately need to get our youngsters into the world of work. We need to kick down

01:09doors and make it happen and change those stark statistics around the number of adults

01:13with learning disabilities in employment. And this is it. This is the real deal. It's

01:17not role play. It is an authentic, creative learning environment for pupils to learn those

01:22skills.

01:23The learning environment on board the Express replicates that of a high street coffee shop.

01:27One student explained how working here has given her transferable skills.

01:32Speaking to people you need in everyday life, so it helps a lot with like communicating

01:37to people we don't know and people you do know, it makes it a lot better.

01:43Getting disabled people into work remains an issue, with recruitment still being stifled

01:48by prejudice and a lack of awareness. However, new ideas across Kent are showing the possibilities

01:55of inclusive employment and the benefits it brings to the wider community.

02:00Connie Bowker for KMTV.