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Across the world, people with disabilities are entrepreneurs and self-employed workers, farmers and factory workers, doctors and teachers, shop assistants and bus drivers, artists, and computer technicians. Almost all jobs can be performed by someone with a disability, and given the right environment, most people with disabilities can be productive. But as documented by several studies, both in developed and developing countries, working age persons with disabilities experience significantly lower employment rates and much higher unemployment rates than persons without disabilities.
Lower rates of labour market participation are one of the important pathways through which disability may lead to poverty. In Article 27 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) “recognizes the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities”. Furthermore, the CRPD prohibits all forms of employment discrimination, promotes access to vocational training, promotes opportunities for self-employment, and calls for reasonable accommodation in the workplace, among other provisions.
Almost all jobs can be performed productively by someone with a disability, and given the right environment, most people with disabilities can be productive. But working age persons with disabilities experience significantly lower employment rates and much higher rates of unemployment than persons without disabilities. This is due to many factors, including lack of access to education and vocational rehabilitation and training, lack of access to financial resources, disincentives created by disability benefits, the inaccessibility of the workplace, and employers’ perceptions of disability and disabled people.
In improving labour market opportunities for people with disabilities many stakeholders have a role, including government, employers, disabled people’s organizations, and trade unions. The Report’s recommendations to improve access to labour markets for people with disabilities are presented here by key actors.
Governments Laws and regulations
■ Enact and enforce effective anti-discrimination legislation.
■ Ensure that public policies are harmonized to provide incentives and support for individuals with disabilities to seek employment, and for employers to hire them.
Changing attitudes
■ Promote awareness among employers of their duty not to discriminate, and of the means available to them to support the employment of people with disabilities.
■ Instil a belief among the public that people with disabilities can work, given the proper support.
■ As employers, lead by example in promoting the employment of disabled people in the public sector.
Public programmes
■ Make mainstream vocational guidance and training programmes accessible to people with disabilities.
■ Make mainstream employment services available to persons with disabilities on an equal basis with other job seekers.
■ Develop services tailored to individual and community needs, rather than services of a “one-size-fits-all” nature.
■ Ensure that mainstream social protection programmes include people with disabilities, while at the same time supporting their return to work, and not creating disincentives to those seeking work or returning to work.
■ Design safety net interventions to promote labour market inclusion of disabled people by including assistance and support services or covering the additional costs incurred by those who enter employment – such as the cost of travel to work and of equipment.
■ Adjust disability assessment systems so that they assess the positive aspects of functioning (as opposed to disability) and capacity to work.
■ Monitor and evaluate labour market programmes aimed at facilitating and increasing employment of persons with disabilities and scale up those that deliver results with focus on inclusive, not segregated solutions.
■ Provide adequate and sustainable funding for training programmes, to build a skilled workforce of people with disabilities. Data collection
■ Include persons with disabilities in labour market data collection activities, for instance labour force survey.
■ Use internationally agreed (for example ILO) labour market indicators to measure and monitor the labour market status and livelihood experiences of people with disabilities.
Employers
■ Hire people with disabilities, making reasonable accommodations available where needed.
■ Set up disability management programmes to support the return to work of employees who become disabled.
■ Develop partnerships with local employment agencies, educational institutions, skill training programmes, and social enterprises to build a skilled workforce that includes people with disabilities.
■ Ensure that all supervisors and human resource personnel are acquainted with the requirements for accommodation and nondiscrimination with regard to individuals with disabilities.
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