'Workers' Day: what do disabled persons have to celebrate?'

Camilleri, Joseph M. (1999): 'Eradicating the dependency trap: employment and disabled persons'. Sunday Times [of Malta]. 1st May. Malta.

A lifetime of state handouts?

Coping with a severe impairment, whether it is visual, hearing, intellectual, or mobility in nature, is in itself a time-consuming and exhausting activity. Given this it becomes clear that adding a full-time job, or career on top of all this has to be made worth the individual's effort, otherwise the whole process becomes a self-defeating exercise. To be honest, how many of us are prepared to invest a great deal of time and effort in an endeavour which is going to give us little, or no return? It is hardly surprising then, that in order for disabled persons to seek employment it must be clear at the outset that the exercise is going to be worthwhile both in terms of pay and in status and that this has to happen in the short, as well as in the long, term.

One of the most damaging and widely held misconceptions about disabled persons is that as a group they are either unfit, or unwilling to find and keep employment. Although the reality is very different, damaging stereotypes and negative attitudes still prevail, and they are very difficult to shake off. The lack of employment opportunities and prejudices on the workplace which these attitudes too often engender effectively demoralise disabled persons and lead them to give up the struggle towards financial independence and full participation in mainstream society.

When this happens the individual loses out, but so does our society for by so doing we will have created another statistic on our national dependency chart, another potential candidate for a lifetime of state handouts and ultimately for costly institutionalisation. In order for us, as a society, to avoid such a predictable and avoidable outcome it becomes necessary for us to take affirmative, pro-active and collective action. There is no single government department or agency which is going to solve the problem of employment for disabled persons. This is a situation that will have to be tackled at many levels and it is a situation which for which we all have to assume responsibility.

Legislative measures

An significant consideration for us all is the education/ legislation dilemma. Many are of the opinion that it is better to educate the employer into accepting disabled persons as useful employees, rather than enacting legislative measures to ensure that disabled persons are employed, irrespective of what employers think. In reality, negative social attitudes are extremely difficult to overcome and so, in order to guarantee that a reasonable momentum for change takes place, legislative measures become necessary.

In Malta, the 1969 Employment of Disabled Persons Act, established a Register of persons with disabilities, a quota (2%) for employers employing more than 20 people, obliging them to employ from this register, and other provisos in this area. Many people regard the quota system as an antiquated and unnecessary measure, which actually militates against the full inclusion of disabled persons, in that it labels them as incapable, therefore necessitating discriminatory measures in their favour.

I personally consider the quota system as necessary, but not sufficient. That is to say that, at the present stage in the process of social development for disabled people, when the balance is so heavily weighed against them it is essential to employ external measures to redress the very real inequalities of opportunity prevailing in our society. One hopes that, sometime in the future, these measures will no longer be necessary since the majority of disabled people will be able to compete for employment with their non-disabled peers.

An important step towards ensuring equality of opportunity for employment will be the passage into law of the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act which already seems to have the full support of both sides of the House. This central piece of legislation seeks to ensure that the civil rights of disabled persons are respected at all levels, including the area of employment. This act emphasises the need for equality of opportunity throughout the whole process of employment, from recruitment to career development. The strength of this act is that it deliberately sets out to educate and change prejudicial attitudes, as much as it seeks to curb abuse.

Careers' and Vocational Guidance

Today many young disabled youngsters attend mainstream schools --- and rightly so. But are they being encouraged to develop the same life expectations as their peers? Very often society has low expectations where a disabled person is concerned. Whereas disabled youngsters are included in school-life, very few teachers and employers expect them to find useful employment after they leave school. Acting on this false assumption, the school frequently neglects to give the disabled youngster the same level of careers and vocational guidance that is provided to his, or her, peer group. Again, we find ourselves confronting a situation where the individual with the greatest need is usually the one who has to do without.
"If career and educational guidance can benefit the "normal" student, it must be of fundamental importance to any educational programme that includes special educational needs provisions. The greater the degree of special educational needs, the greater the need for career and educational guidance." (Galea Curmi, et al, 1996).
Disabled youngsters who have had no preparation for the job market, cannot be blamed for not being prepared for employment. The parents and school together must instil an employment mentality in the disabled individual, that is, the expectation that the youngster can and should find employment. More importantly, the school is duty-bound to ensure that it has laid the groundwork which will later on help the disabled individual to develop marketable skills. It is unrealistic to expect the school-leaver to make the quantum leap from a school to a work centred environment if all the groundwork has been systematically neglected earlier on.

Reasonable Incomes

Once again low expectations condemn the majority of disabled workers to low income, low status employment. This pernicious combination does little to encourage individual ambition and furthermore it is a strong contributory factor the poverty trap which the majority of disabled workers find themselves in once they leave school. If the vast majority of disabled persons are perceived as only being fit for low status, low pay jobs, then it should surprise no one that many of them opt to turn away from employment, preferring the relative security of a state-funded pension.

The pension in itself may serve as an inducement to keep a tiny minority of disabled people away from gainful employment. But this situation should not be used as an argument to justify the extreme measure of removing the pension altogether. Some individuals are too severely disabled to ever find really gainful employment, others have to deal with a condition which may fluctuate dramatically and which may force to become dependent on a state pension for a period of them. The state disability pension is a clear indicator of our society's sense of social justice and human solidarity. As a safety net it is a must and should remain in place.

Career development

Having found gainful employment, what happens next? Is the disabled employee as likely to find opportunities for career development and promotion, or is the disabled individual considered lucky to have found a position (any position) at all and left to mark time for the rest of their working life?

"Once a disabled person has become established in a job, it is important for them to benefit from the self-esteem and increase in income that career development brings. Career development is vital if disabled people are to secure an increasing and reasonable income. The career development process is vital if disabled people are to feel valued as citizens." (Helios II, 1996).

Developing partnerships

We have to understand that when dealing with the issue of employment and disabled persons, we are dealing with a homogenous situation. On the contrary, it is a challenge which reflects the individuality and differences which lie at the core of Disability as a whole.

Three main employment routes are open for disabled persons. Firstly, the vast majority of disabled people can, and should, find employment in the open market. Secondly, a minority of disabled persons (those with a more severe intellectual impairment, or those who have a very severe mobility impairment) would be more productive working in sheltered employment. Thirdly, a very small percentage of people who have very severe intellectual impairments may need to be catered for through different service provisions.

But whatever route the individual may be guided towards, the ultimate aim of all training provision should remain to maximise individual potential in order to lead towards gainful employment on the open market.

Such a situation, with its prevailing complexities, cannot be tackled by one department or agency on its own, but requires the concerted effort of a multiplicity of partners.

The European Commission's good practice guide on Work and Preparation for Employment for Disabled Persons (Helios II, 1996) recommends that:

"Positive partnerships should be developed to encourage the key stakeholders to work in collaboration to ensure that practical solutions are developed to overcome the difficulties disabled people face in preparing for work, obtaining work and remaining in work. These include partnerships with mainstream training and vocational centres, schools and colleges, universities, employers, families and family organisations, trade unions and other relevant organisations. Additional partnerships are required to provide ongoing support for disabled people who have recently started work. Also, collaboration is needed to ensure the effective preparation of disabled people for the transition from sheltered employment to the open market."

The Employment & Training Corporation, I feel, has a much greater role to play in developing and nurturing such partnerships. It needs to enhance its present practices and processes in order to become more pro-active and assertive in 'marketing' disabled persons. Offering financial assistance so that employers can make their premises more physically accessible is not enough. Nor is subsidising a disability individual's during their initial phase of work with a company. We cannot deny that such provisions are essential, but they are very far from efficient.

The ETC has to develop a direct presence in both mainstream and special schools with a view to supporting and guiding young, disabled job seekers in their chosen careers. It should further develop a structured, on-going programme of education for employers outlining the benefits of employing disabled persons, while seeking to counteract damaging stereotypes. Furthermore, since employers are understandably afraid of what they do not understand, the ETC can and should support training programmes focusing on the management disabled persons on the workplace. Finally, models of good practice in the field need to be publicised more aggressively and imaginatively.

The presence of non-government organisations in the employment sector, such as that of the Eden Foundation, is welcome and appreciated. However, their presence cannot be an excuse for government, or government-funded agencies to abrogate their responsibility in this area. NGOs can usefully complement and enhance government endeavour, bringing an added value to their services. Government, however, has to remain the central standard-bearer and monitor.

Employer's Forum

A potentially beneficial step which the ETC should consider taking is the setting up of an Employers' Forum on Disability. This would consist of a national employers' organisation focused on the employment and training of people with disabilities. Like its European counterpart it would be a not-for-profit organisation funded by its members. The Forum would act to improve the job prospects of disabled people by making it easier for employers to recruit, retain and develop disabled employees.

Last, but absolutely by no means least, is the role of parents of disabled persons. In Malta the tendency still prevails for some parents to over-protect their disabled offspring. Such a behaviour is an obvious, and understandable, reaction to the inequalities and prejudices which their children have to confront on a daily basis.

However, by over-protecting, parents are denying their disabled children the right to make mistakes and the opportunity to develop survival skills which will serve them in good stead in later life. In this respect, schools, disability support groups and other community-level organisations and associations can play an important part in helping parents to overcome their justified fears and to help develop confidence and self-esteem in the disabled youngster.

Valuing disabled people

Ultimately, the pivotal issue is whether or not we as a society are prepared to face up to our traditional misconceptions and see disabled persons as they really are. That is people who have abilities and limitation like everyone else --- no more no less. Are we ready to accept that it is rather the palpable social barriers (negative attitudes, hostile architecture, inaccessible means of information and communication) that keep them out of the job market and prevent them from enjoying an acceptable quality of life, than their own physical and/ or mental impairments.

Briefly then, the major disabling barriers are not the construct of the disabled individual, but of a wider social fabric. We as a society have to agree on this point and face up to the daunting challenge of effecting social change. Then, and only then can we, as disabled persons, ever hope to achieve equality of opportunity at any level of our lives.

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