The Kaleidoscope is an early intervention vocational rehabilitation programme dedicated to getting people who happen to have disabilities into great jobs they love.

Many people in New Zealand have some sort of a disability. In 2001 it was estimated that one in five New Zealanders had a disability and more specifically 9 percent or approximately one in ten of all adults in the 15-64 age group (i.e. the working age population) had a physical disability.

This statistic when combined with the unemployment rate in New Zealand for people with disabilities of about 60 percent, meant approximately 135,500 working age adults with physical disabilities were out of work. All this at a time when New Zealand’s overall unemployment rate was running at 5.2 percent.

When the statistics are focussed more closely on the population with a serious physical disability the picture gets even worse. In 1999 the rate of unemployment for people with SCI (Spinal Cord Impairment) in New Zealand was surveyed at 67 percent. For the population who have a serious disability that was the result of an accident and who are entitled to ACC Earnings Related Compensation, the proportion of people confirmed in full or part-time work is 12 percent implying an unemployment rate of a staggering 88 percent.

The New Zealand Spinal Trust decided to investigate ways that the unemployment rate could be greatly reduced. So it was decided to test aspects of the Supported Employment model to the vocational rehabilitation of people who are coming through or who had been through Burwood Hospital, Christchurch.

The Kaleidoscope programme undertakes vocational rehabilitation work with people far earlier than ever before in their rehabilitation and this, combined with a full talent and motivation identification process, sets these people up to powerfully re-enter the job market. At this stage Kaleidoscope provides on-going individual career coaching with the strong emphasis on the client doing as much of the work as possible for themselves.

The other key aspect of the Kaleidoscope programme has been the close involvement of the local business community in meeting and talking to people about work in their industries. It is hoped that this approach will build the client’s confidence and improve their chances of getting jobs.

Back to Top