Feeling pigeon holed? What job do you want

I guess most people who suffer from a mental health problem have felt pigeon holed at some point and if not by others than by themselves. I know I have, is it stigma or self-disillusionment? I don’t know but either way life has been different because of the diagnosis.

48.8% of disabled able to work are employed compared to 77.7% for those without disability which shows and huge gap in employment rates, however this figure doesn’t really express the problems that some people have in gaining work or in keeping it (figures for 2011). For instance

The disability employment fact sheet breaks it down further showing as percentages of the total employed

	% full time disabled employees	% part-time disabled employees	% full time non disable employees	% part-time non disabled employees
2010	33.5	14.8	58	18.8
2011	33.1	15.6	58.9	18.5

And shows that disabled people are far more likely when employed to be working part-time. You might conclude that this shows another form of discrimination since a part time employee would be less of a risk to the overall work load than a full time one, however I feel this is a false conclusion. There are many reasons why the disabled may choose to work part time that would better suit both their circumstances and their needs rather than being full time and this report doesn’t give any indication of whether the difference is by choice or because of other reasons.

It also doesn’t give any indication of whether a persons particular disability affects the rate at which a group is employed. Many would say that there is less discrimination for people with physical disabilities or for those with depression however when there is evidence that discrimination and hate crime on disabled is rising I feel it’s quite reasonable to assume that those with severe mental health problems or those with more obvious problems, may be suffering more than most. For instance the indication is that 70% of people with schizophrenia have experienced discrimination.

So how does this group fair?

The Schizophrenia Commission report identified the employment rate of this group as being around 8 per cent in the UK, within a range of 5 -15 per cent, against a national UK employment rate of 71 per cent

Which is a lot less than the average. In fact the report goes on to say that

A large international study combining data from 37 different countries found that on average, 19 per cent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia were in paid employment, with figures ranging from 16.2 per cent to 22.6 per cent, against an average employment rate in the general population of 75 per cent and 80 per cent (Haro et al., 2011)

Even at the high end of the rage it didn’t overlap with the rate found for the UK, which shows that there is a significant difference between the UK and the rest of the world when it comes to employment of those with schizophrenia. (Please note that this study had differences in the number of people having schizophrenia in each of the different countries which reduces the accuracy/comparability of the numbers) However despite this it may be fair to assume that the UK employs many fewer people with schizophrenia that others.

The question of course is why is the employment rate so low in the UK? Is it really just a case that we have such high discrimination?

There are in fact many barriers to employment and the rate at which people are employed the study quotes

Marwaha and Johnson (2004) conclude that low employment rates are heavily influenced by the social and economic pressures faced by the individuals, the reality of the labour market, and psychological and social barriers to working.

As if I couldn’t have guessed that however it doesn’t really help with getting yourself into work. The report goes into depth on some of these issues but the real point for me is that shouldn’t getting someone with a severe problem back into work be better done by those with the knowledge, understanding and skills for that particular illness.

The barriers to work for each different illness, in fact for each individual are going to be different and having people who understand each illness would surely improve the chances of getting the right kind of support and training for the person.

At the very least I feel that a work program specifically designed for those coming off ESA or with disabilities is the way forward. One that isn’t paid by results as moving towards employment with mental health issues can be an extremely complex and slow process and for those who are in good health and not returning from time off due to their problems the barriers for them are going to be very similar to those who are.

In many ways it was quite disheartening to see that the popular push is just to get people off benefit it seems a tragedy to be so short sighted. That people are being encouraged to be happy with getting a pay check, to be satisfied with a job no matter of what type and despite never having really bought into the idea of job satisfaction I have found that it’s an important part to sustainability and my continuing to stay in employment. Without job satisfaction, without enjoying my work and feeling good about my achievement I fall into despair and ultimately become ill.

If I am to contribute then it has to be satisfying and it has to allow for advancement, to let me use the talents/gifts/intellect that I possess and sadly it seems people do not see that as important but it should be and not just for me but for everyone.

But then not everyone has the same kind of problems getting jobs that people with severe mental health problems do, nor do they have such low expectations pushed onto them!