By Sarah Spina-Matthews

Most Australian businesses have no staff with disability, prompting calls for an attitude shift among the nation’s employers. 

A landmark report on disability employment in Australia, released on Tuesday, found 890,000 unemployed people with disability were able to work with minor adjustments but struggled to find opportunities.

Just one in three businesses reported employing someone with disability.

The report, commissioned by philanthropic organisation Disability Employment Investments, will be handed to Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday.

Lifting the employment rate of people facing barriers and matching that of people without disability would bring 637,000 more Australians into the workforce, it found.

That would help address workforce shortages and boost productivity.

Disability Employment Investments chief executive John Burn said employers were missing the benefits that hiring people with disability could bring.

“When discussing disability and employment, it’s crucial to understand that ‘facing barriers’ doesn’t mean ‘can’t work’,” Mr Burn said.

“With properly designed roles, creative and adaptive environments, and a little bit of leadership, people with disability can make their best contributions in all workplaces, in all industries.”

Of 2.7 million working-age Australians with disability, just more than half are employed.

This includes 780,000 people who face barriers to work, but are able to do so with the help of adjustments such as assistive technology, the report found.

However, more than half of the surveyed people with disability said they struggled finding employers who wanted to hire them.

Mr Burn said it showed capable and willing potential employees were being overlooked.

“All they need is an opportunity,” he said.

This is the first State of the Nation report into disability employment, which is set to be updated annually.

Former disability discrimination commissioner Alastair McEwin, as well as business leaders and employees with disability, are set to attend event for the report’s launch on Tuesday.

News all day, every day at CityNewsQBN.com.au.