PROMINENT Greencastle disability rights campaigner, Dermot Devlin, has spoken at a major summit in Belfast aimed at highlighting and addressing disability employment issues.
Mr Devlin was among the contributors at the Harkin International Disability Employment Summit, held at Stormont.
It was conceived in 2016 by United States Senator, Tom Harkin, and is recognised internationally for bringing together leaders and activists across business, government, philanthrophy, the voluntary sector and education.
The Greencastle man spent the summit mentoring employers and employees on disability recruitment, hiring, retention, advancement and inclusion.
In a wide-ranging address, the My Way Access founder described himself as being one of the ‘lucky’ deaf and disabled people in Northern Ireland, due to the fact that he has been in meaningful employment now for 20 years.
“Deaf and disabled people need to have our voices heard at district council level and here at the Northern Ireland Assembly. We have a wealth of lived life experience. We know what we want, and we know what we need,” he told the event.
“Through Disabled Person’s Organisations (DPOs) we need to be actively in the conversations, in the planning strategies and the implementation of policy and procurements. We know what works for us, without non-disabled people or organisations with protected interests, making the decisions for us.”
Mr Devlin said that there had been many positive improvements in recent times, including the first Disabled People’s Parliament last December which he also attended.
“There are encouraging plans coming up, but we must keep pushing to ensure they are acted on and continued to be built upon,” he added.
“I am going to use Senator Tom Harkin’s words to empower me in the future and other deaf and disabled people around me… ‘We are fired up. Ready to go!’
“It was a privilege to meet so many wonderful people,” he added.
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