AHEAD Ireland

19/12/2025

We’re wrapping up our communications for the year, we’ll be taking a break from now until Jan 5th. We leave you with 10 of our key achievements from 2025!

We celebrated 20 years of WAM, our employment programme which has placed almost 800 disabled graduates in paid, mentored employment since its formation.

We worked collaboratively with Education & Training Boards Ireland and all 16 ETBs to establish the Reasonable Accommodations in FET Review Group, aimed at providing a platform for self-evaluation and shared learning in the delivery of consistent support for disabled learners.

We worked with partners to promote ALTITUDE National Charter for Universal Design in Tertiary Education which was adopted by 20 tertiary education institutions/organisations across the year; 9 Education and Training Boards (ETBs), 7 publicly funded higher education institutions (HEIs), 2 private colleges/other tertiary education providers, 2 national representative bodies/state agencies. More details on the ALTITUDE Charter and who’s adopted to date available here.

We collaborated with UCD ALL, and the HEA's National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, on refreshing the UDL badge to bring content in line with the UDL 3.0 Guidelines, and conducting national rollouts of both universal design badges with facilitators in HEIs and ETBs across Ireland.

We worked with our LaunchPAD partners in NDPAC to conduct and release our ‘Voices in the Community’ research, exploring the experiences of disabled postgraduate students and recruited 8 LaunchPAD Ambassadors to advocate for the recommendations.

We introduced the WIDE framework in partnership with Employers for Change. The framework supports organisations on the island of Ireland to hire, retain, and promote more disabled people and create a more inclusive workplace.

We worked with Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn to coordinate the Students with Disabilities Advisory Group and the Power of Disability Conference, curated by students for students.

We published a bumper issue of the AHEAD Journal with 22 articles, our largest to date, allowing contributors a space to share innovative ideas and examples of good practice in inclusive education and employment both in Ireland and internationally.

We organised Building the Future 2025 our annual unique careers fair for careers event for disabled students and graduates, with 173 registered to attend and 18 companies taking part in the day!

We developed and submitted 14 policy submissions to relevant stakeholders, including several by-invitation which demonstrates our value within the sector.

Thanks to our funders in SOLAS, HEA and Department of Social Protection for funding us to make this work happen!

18/12/2025

Are you a PhD or Masters supervisor with experience supervising disabled researcher(s)? We need your help. LaunchPAD is researching system perspectives on the inclusion of disabled people in postgraduate study. We need participants for semi-structured interviews and focus groups, online at a time that works for you. No identifying information will be included and you can review the outputs before they are publicised. EOI form & further info here - https://buff.ly/cqeWAVr

17/12/2025

Almost ready to join the 20 tertiary education institutions & orgs who have adopted the ALTITUDE Charter?

Well, good news, on March 20th 2026 the project partners invite you to take part in the 2nd National ALTITUDE Adoption Day 📢

This is essentially a mass communications exercise which will:

✅ Display a collective cross-tertiary commitment to Universal Design.

✅ Raise awareness about ALTITUDE and signal your intent to join the growing number of institutions strongly committing to embed a universal design approach.

✅ Encourage other institutions and agencies to support this effort. We are working to engage with national agencies to echo this sentiment via statements of their own.

If you commit by Jan 31st 2026 to adopting the charter, you will be offered a lightning slot at the ALTITUDE Summit, giving you a platform to communicate your plans in front of the wider sector. Contact altitude@ahead.ie to express your commitment.

Further information on the 2nd National ALTITUDE Adoption Day, including FAQs, details on what the charter is and how to use it, and a communications pack you're free to use, are all available here - https://buff.ly/tyhXNjQ

16/12/2025

An early Christmas present for you... Our AHEAD Start course still has a few spaces left. We'll leave registration open until it fills. Register soon to guarantee your spot - https://buff.ly/PpJAIrZ

15/12/2025

Last chance! This Clerical Officer role at the Mental Health Commission closes for applications at 12pm this Wednesday 17th December 2025. This job is available exclusively to disabled applicants. More information and application form here -

- AHEAD

11/12/2025

Secure the early bird rate for the first ever ALTITUDE Summit/AHEAD Conference 2026 💸 Full price kicks in from January 7th.

Join us on 19–20 March 2026 at the Convention Centre Dublin or online as we explore how Universal Design is shaping the future of tertiary education.

Register now: https://buff.ly/v7fzIvd

10/12/2025

Last chance! AHEAD Start, our online course all about supporting students with disabilities in Further and Higher education closes for registration on the 15th.

You asked, we answered.
Do you have to work in a disability-specific role to take part in this course? No, in fact this course will benefit anyone in a student facing role.

What will you be doing on the course? You’ll learn to understand the impact of disabilities in education and the types of supports that can be put in place. You’ll be guided through the ABCs of needs assessments, including how to conduct them.

Sign up now - https://buff.ly/PpJAIrZ

09/12/2025

Does the thought of networking make you shudder? Us too! Networking can be very daunting, but our upcoming online workshop can help. We'll explore how to build confidence, make meaningful professional connections and navigate networking spaces in a way that works best for you.

More information or sign up here - https://buff.ly/HZeNJ3r

05/12/2025

Hiring! Clerical Officer role at Mental Health Commission available exclusively to disabled applicants.

📃 Previous experience in a clerical, customer service or contact centre role.
6️⃣ Education qualification of Level 6 or higher on the National Framework of Qualifications.
✅ Hybrid, office is in Dublin 4.

Complete and return your application form by 12pm on Wednesday 17th December 2025. More information and application form here - https://buff.ly/BBqd1VX

04/12/2025

Early bird rate available until January 7th 🪶

Join us on 19–20 March 2026 at the Convention Centre Dublin or online as we explore how Universal Design is shaping the future of tertiary education.

Register now:

- AHEAD

03/12/2025

Awards season continues! Our own Philip Carroll (Senior WAM Project Officer) headed to EirGrid to present a 20 Year WAM Leader award 🏆

From left to right: Keeva Carpenter, Philip Carroll, Billie Cross

03/12/2025

It’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities! We wanted to take a beat to thank all the wonderful disabled people who power AHEAD and work so hard on advancing our mission. A particular shout out goes to our disabled board members, staff, and students and graduate collaborators.

Today we ring the bell for the powerful disabled advocates driving progress for accessibility and inclusion in Irish society 🔔