Seamless journeys to work for young adults with physical / Neurological disabilities: Stage 1 Report - Disability employment policy and program influences on education-to-employment transition for young adults

Executive Summary The findings described in this report relate to stage 1 of a larger Australian Research Council Linkage project: Seamless Journeys to Work for Young People with Physical / Neurological Disabilities. Stage 1 of the study takes a deeper look at Disability Employment Services (DES) and intersecting service systems to understand policy and program influences on the transition to work for young adults with disabilities, with a specific focus on those with primary physical and neurological impairments. The intention was to identify not just what the policy and program rules say about transition and young people with disabilities, but importantly, how implementing organisations (e.g. service providers) experience, understand and practice the policy and program logic as well as the potential implications and conflicts that exist with regard to supporting young adults with disabilities in their pathways to employment. The data informing the analysis were interviews with 22 participants (from organisations - DES providers and peak body/systematic advocacy organisation), as well as 16 publicly available submissions to the Australian Government’s 2015 discussion paper on DES reform..