Student Disability and Employability: Empowering Self-Discovery

University students with disabilities are supported in a variety of ways designed to help all students realise their academic potential. Students are supported whether they have physical disabilities or cognitive learning difficulties. When these students leave higher education and enter the workplace, what support can they expect? How do they understand and articulate their practical support needs to a prospective employer? Will employers be able to help? Literature suggests that relevant support for disability does exist in the workplace although perhaps not evenly. Fieldwork demonstrates that communication is the main hurdle. A model of student employability is developed that includes all students, with or without disability. The model is augmented and built into an inclusive transition framework designed to support discussion between students and support practitioners, exploring employment-related issues and concerns, and enabling a student to explore and develop their own employability and career. A prototype framework has been successfully piloted with support practitioners and with students, potentially filling the communication gap.