Angela Kerins's message is simple. As chair of the National Disability Authority, she's familiar with people who sympathise with disabled people. But such people don't want sympathy, she says. They want work.

"With people who have disabilities, there is 80 per cent unemployment. We hear on the radio continuously about vacancies, that 20,000 positions need to be filled. We're bringing in people from abroad, but we have a hidden workforce of our own."

Figures compiled by the authority are stark. Some 350,000 people, or 10 per cent of the population, are disabled - and of these, 80 per cent are unemployed.

"There are training programmes. About 1,000 people complete training every year and only 25 per cent of them get jobs. There's at least 3,000 out there who have completed work-related training programmes. The big question is why are they not getting jobs."

Ms Kerins sees two reasons for this. Firstly, a question of awareness, is that employers do not see people with disabilities as potential workers. Secondly, employers fear taking on disabled workers.

"Employers don't see them as part of the economy. People are afraid and worried about hiring people with disabilities - that has proven to be a barrier. I'd like to see IBEC and the small firms initiatives do a lot more about employing these people. This isn't about charity. This is about recognising real skills that are out there.

"It's only now, because of the labour force shortages that people with disabilities are being looked at. . . IBEC, the SFA and ISME need to provide proper information to their members. I'm not knocking IBEC, but they have a pivotal role to play in this.

"People are working side-byside [with other workers] earning the same rates of pay."

These workers are employed in electronic assembly, computer programming and the retail trade. Ms Kerins says companies are unaware of incentives available to ease hiring workers with disabilities.

In Budget 2000, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, made £5 million available to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for "supported employment" and "supports to employers" programmes. From March, Tanaiste, Ms Harney's Department will assume responsibility for the promotion of employment for people with disabilities from the Department of Health and Children.

Some £4 million will be spent on the "supported employment" scheme, which places disabled people in jobs on the open market. Tested under the EU's Horizon Initiative, the programme has four elements, normally carried out by an expert "job coach", especially trained and employed by FAS.

The coach indentifies appropriate work for a client worker, sources a job, places the client with company and provides support in training the client in the workplace. Also, the coach provides ongoing support for both employer and client.

Ms Kerins said: "Supported employment provides employers and people with disabilities with the necessary supports to enable them to be valuable workers. The job coaches come in. The employer has somebody they can rely on and that support is always there."

The Budget also provided £1 million for supports to employers to provide specialised training enabling workers who acquire a disability during their working life to stay at work. This money will also be used for disability awareness training in a company. This is seen as a key factor in helping the integration of disabled people into the workforce.

Existing programmes such as the Employment Support Scheme provide grants to companies to cover the shortfall in productivity of disabled workers. Grants are also available towards the cost of adapting premises or equipment to meet the needs of a worker with a disability.

A further factor is technology, which eases some of the burdens of disability from workers and those seeking jobs.

Ms Betty O'Leary, a barrister who is blind, says she would never have qualified with a law degree from Trinity College nor with a professional qualification from Kings Inns, without modern equipment. Technology enables her to scan typed documents into a "reader", which can transmit the document in Braille or orally. Ms O'Leary also uses a Braille keyboard.

"I think we're getting there," she says when asked about the status of people with disabilities in the workforce. "I certainly never had any difficulty with any clients. Solicitors would be the same."

While Ms O'Leary accepts that people do say "aren't you great", this is not the case on a professional level. "I do get asked `how do you read stuff or do stuff', but that's curiosity. From the point of view of the two people I devilled for, there was none of it."

Just as the degree of disability can vary from borderline, to mild, severe or profound, the jobs suited to different individuals also vary. In some cases, a worker with a disability may be better suited to a position than someone else. For example, certain disabled people may have an aptitude for repetitive work. "They get to doing the job and they continue to do the job. They're very good at repetitive work skills, to maintain the same standard of delivery all the time.

"Once the glass ceiling is broken, employers gain a very good, loyal employees who they can retain," says Ms Kerins. "They have a great way of getting to the heart of people they're meeting. A friend of mine who employs a woman with a disability says she couldn't buy the customer care this person has given her.

"People with disabilities are not sick - it's an impairment in normal activity. They don't want to be patronised. They want an opportunity to work. They want to get out there and get jobs."