Engage, Enable and Empower
A practical guide to creating meaningful employment for persons with intellectual disabilities.
At EY, our purpose revolves around building a better working world, one characterised by both sustainability and inclusive economic participation. We strongly believe in embracing diversity in all its forms, and we aim to create an environment where everyone feels valued and appreciated for their uniqueness. When individuals feel valued, they can reach their full potential and make meaningful contributions.
In 2017, EY Ireland joined forces with the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities to initiate a trial internship program for a young person with intellectual disabilities (ID) to embark on meaningful career journeys. The benefits have been enormous: not just to the graduates who, through having meaningful work, have found a sense of purpose and belief in themselves, but to their families and friends, to our colleagues across EY Ireland – and to our business.
Working in EY means everything to me. I love being part of society, getting a pay cheque, being able to grumble about having to pay taxes and being able to save money and being able to work off a budget. Working in EY means a lot to me because I am experiencing life as other people are experiencing it.
Participant impact statements
'I sit beside [my mentor] and I am glad to sit beside her because we can talk and have a cup of tea. In EY I can sit beside different people and they help me. We can have a laugh and a joke which is really important.'
'It’s great, I love it, I’m delighted here. I think I’ve found myself in exactly the right place. I think [my mentor] is happy with how I’m getting on. Every week he’s going through harder and harder tasks with me and pushing me to be better. I can see myself going up a new ladder.'
'I feel when I’m in EY that no one cares [that I have special needs]. When someone gives me a task to do they’ll email me everything I need and tell me as well. I don’t have to ask over and over again.'
'It’s brilliant for a person with a disability to have a job. It’s massive and it gives you that confidence to think you can do anything.'
As a parent of a child with an intellectual disability, you hope for health, happiness, and a bright future for them. We started this programme in 2017 to try to achieve just that. The outcomes have exceeded our wildest expectations. Seeing the joy on a young person’s face as they show how they can add value and realise their potential has been a revelation for our people and our business.
Engage, Enable and Empower
In the spirit of building a better working world we have developed guide based on the lived experience in firm. This guide is a product of collective insights from our Trinity graduates, Trinity representatives, family members, EY managers, mentors, and more. The guide outlines how organisations can engage, enable and empower their organisation, colleagues, and community to welcome people with intellectual disabilities into the world of work. We want organisations looking to welcome employees with ID to find this guide not only informative but also inspiring.
Within each stage you’ll find step-by-step guide and key learnings – the lessons we found most valuable along the way.
When you combine a structured programme such as Trinity’s with business partners like EY to create employment, you transform the lives of students and their families as well as society as a whole.
