Disability Employment Strategy

The Australian Government, through the Department of Social Services (the department), has developed Employ My Ability – the Disability Employment Strategy, to provide a guiding framework for governments, employers and the broader community to increase employment outcomes for people with disability.

Increasing employment of people with disability has many benefits to employers and the community.

Our vision is for:

Employ My Ability has 4 priority areas:

Lifting employer engagement, capability and demand

Building employment skills, experience and confidence of young people with disability

Improving systems and services for job seekers and employers

Changing community attitudes

Employ My Ability is available in the following accessible formats:

• Standard version
• Easy Read version
• Auslan version

A number of factsheets have been developed to support Employ My Ability and encourage employer action:

• Employment for people with disability
• Looking for a fresh perspective?
• Looking to improve your workplace performance and culture?
• Your community is your customer
• Looking to add value to your team?
• Interested in employing a person with disability?
• Want your spending to make a difference?

Other formats of Employ My Ability and the factsheets, including language translations, Braille and Large Print Overlay can be requested free-of-charge from the department by emailing dep@dss.gov.au.

Australia’s Disability Strategy

Employ My Ability is an Associated Plan of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031(the Strategy).

The Strategy is Australia’s national disability policy framework, driving action at all levels of government to improve the lives of people with disability. The Strategy includes a focus on employment for people with disability through the Employment and Financial Security Outcome Area.

Actions taken under Employ My Ability will be listed in the Strategy’s Employment and Community Attitudes Targeted Action Plans. Implementation and outcomes reporting will occur through the Strategy’s reporting mechanisms.

More information is available on the Australia’s Disability Strategy webpage.

Contributions

Employ My Ability has been informed by feedback from a large number of stakeholders including people with disability, their families and carers, advocacy organisations, peak bodies, employers and service providers.

The department would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of Employ My Ability, in particular the members of the Disability Employment Advisory Committee:

Joint Chairs

• Dylan Alcott OAM – Founder, Dylan Alcott Foundation and Get Skilled Access
• Simon McKeon AO – Chancellor, Monash University and Founder, MS Research Australia

Members

• Dr Ben Gauntlett – Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
• Carolyn Frohmader – Executive Director, Women with Disabilities Australia
• Dani Fraillon – Chief Operating Officer, Get Skilled Access
• Donna Bain – General Manager, Self Help Workplace
• Garry Terrill – Chief Operating Officer, Australian Retailers Association and Director, Retail Institute
  • Jihad Youssef – State Employment Services and Business Development Manager, Australian Retailers Association
• Ian Tsolakis – Group Disability Employment Manager, Crown Resorts
• Innes Willox – Chief Executive, Australian Industry Group
  • Megan Lilly – Executive Director, Australian Industry Group
• Jody Barney – Aboriginal Disability Training Consultant and Senior Fellow, Social Equity
• Kerrie Brewer – General Manager – Development, Infrastructure and Government Relations, Hawthorn Football Club
• Kerry McQuillan – State Director (QLD) and National Lead (Diversity and Inclusion), Randstad
• Professor Patrick McGorry AO – Executive Director, Orygen and Founding Director, National Youth Mental Health Foundation
  • Professor Eoin Killackey – Director of Graduate Research and Education, Head of Function Recovery Program, Orygen
• Rachel Mead – Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Woolworths Group
• Sally Sinclair – Chief Executive Officer, National Employment Services Association
• Teresa Pilbeam – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Supports Lead, Autism Queensland Limited
• Therese Campbell – Chairperson, Disability Employment Australia

For more information on the consultation that informed Employ My Ability, visit the Disability Employment Strategy page on DSS Engage.

Employer endorsement

Many businesses are already committed to improving diversity within their own organisations and the following employers are demonstrating this by publically endorsing Employ My Ability.

If your organisation would like more information on endorsing Employ My Ability, you can reach out to the department at dep@dss.gov.au.

Showing support

We encourage you to use the Employ My Ability branding to show your support and raise awareness of this important piece of work, for example, through your social media, websites and newsletters.

• Social media tile – Dark blue with artwork [1.09MB JPEG]
• Social media tile – White with photo [759KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Deep aqua with photo [492KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – White with photo v2 [588KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – White with artwork [1.06MB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Vision statement [354KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Dark blue JPEG [261KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Deep aqua [266KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Cream [271KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Cream with icon/infographic [214KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Dark blue with icon/infographic [284KB JPEG]
• Social media tile – Deep aqua with icon/infographic [246KB JPEG]


• Newsletter banner – Artwork [1.09MB JPEG]
• Newsletter banner – Photo [584KB JPEG]

Permission is not needed to use this brand and the following guidelines provide information on how the branding can be used. Stakeholder toolkits can be requested by emailing dep@dss.gov.au.

• Employ My Ability – Brand Guidelines

Printed copies of Employ My Ability, and its factsheets, are also available free-of-charge to support promotion by emailing dep@dss.gov.au.

Questions?

Questions regarding Employ My Ability can be directed to dep@dss.gov.au or through the options available at the ‘Contact the Department’ link at the bottom of this page.

Last updated: 29 March 2022 - 3:15pm