2.D Approaches to Facilitating Employment for Persons with Disabilities

This module has highlighted a number of challenges facing persons with disabilities in relation to the realization of the right to work. Beyond legislation, realization of the right of persons with disabilities to work can be pursued through a number of approaches, including through policy formulation, specific programmes, inclusive and accessible financial services, ensuring accessibility, and awareness-raising.

Mainstreaming Disability in National Development Policies

Mainstreaming disability inclusion strategies into existing development processes is a way of ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities in terms of work and employment. It allows disability-inclusive strategies to become a part of policies that already exist or may be developing within a country. The possibility for mainstreaming exists in several areas, including national employment and youth employment policies.

The inclusion of persons with disabilities in national employment policies is explicitly mentioned in the provisions of the International Labour Organization’s Vocational and Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention (No. 159), 1983 and provides another avenue through which to advance disability inclusion. For example, in 2009 Ethiopia was able to feature a strategy in its national employment policy which called for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour market. It explicitly addressed the need to improve and expand training and other skills development services and support persons with disabilities in starting their own businesses in the formal private sector.

The rights of persons with disabilities can also be mainstreamed in existing or planned youth employment policies. For example, in Togo a National Youth Policy was created in 2007, which had five objectives, one of which included promoting equality. Through this objective the right to employment for youth with disabilities could be mainstreamed and included within the overall strategy of the youth policy.

Another good example of employment initiative is the Youth Employment Fund in Serbia, which was created in 2009 as a joint project with the United Nations Programme on the Promotion of Youth Employment and Management of Migration[1]. The programme is meant for young people with disabilities and low levels of education, ages 15 to 30 years old. The programme offers training based on skills required by employers, work training, employment subsidies and work trial programmes, as well as self-employment programmes.

Accessibility grants are provided to employers to be used making the company’s facilities disability friendly and for the individual worker’s station, i.e., software programmes and other support measures. Childcare grants are also provided to single parents participating in vocational training not available in their municipalities[2].

Supported Employment

Supported Employment Services are a model for employment and recruitment to enable persons with disabilities to secure and maintain a job in the open labour market. This model provides a range of support to employers and persons with disabilities, through job coaches. There are a wide variety of ways in which supported employment may be provided including individual placements, small work teams, mobile work crews and small business arrangements. These services have provided great social and psychological benefits for workers. Cross-national comparisons are very difficult, and each country has to choose the approach that works best. The range of possible supports include:

Individual Needs Assessment
Vocational Profiling and Career Planning
Individual Employment Plan
Job Sourcing and Job Matching
On-the-Job Support and Coaching which supports persons with disabilities in their work-places, and gives advice to employers and co-workers on the inclusion of persons with disabilities
Advice and support to employers
Follow-up support and mentoring for both employers and employees.

Good Practice: Employment Policies and Practices

In Estonia, the Equal Treatment Act prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disability in the area of employment upon: 1) the establishment of conditions for access to employment, to self-employment or to occupation, including selection criteria and recruitment conditions, as well as upon promotion; 2) entry into employment contracts or contracts for the provision of services, appointment or election to office, establishment of working conditions, giving instructions, remuneration, termination or cancellation of employment contracts or contracts for the provision of services, release from office; 3) access to vocational guidance, vocational training, advanced vocational training and retraining, practical work experience; 4) membership in an organisation of employees or employers, including a professional organisation, and grant of benefits by such organisations[3].

In the UK, the Equality Act was enforced in 2010. It protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society. In Finland, disability no longer is an obstacle to register as an unemployed job seeker to an employment office (Act on public employment and business service 2012)[4].

See Learning Activity 2.D. titled

Facilitating Employment for Persons with Disabilities

Micro-Financing

Access to finance is a critical factor in developing self-employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide access to financial services for low-income people. In line with microfinance and poverty alleviation, the need to build an all-inclusive financial sector is paramount.

Microfinance has been proved to be a beneficial tool in poverty reduction and, for this reason, all micro- financing institutions should mainstream the inclusion of persons with disabilities. Often persons with disabilities have been looked at as less enterprising than others and therefore less attractive candidates for micro-financing. This assessment is however unfounded and a large number of persons with disabilities can benefit from financial services. Although micro-financing institutions do not have a deliberate policy of not including persons with disabilities, the physical structure and design of the services provided tends to exclude them.

Micro-financing institutions, disabled persons organizations and donor institutions can work together to alleviate the barriers persons with disabilities face in order to access micro-financing.

Good Practice: Microfinance

“Microfinance providers that have a higher outreach to people with disabilities are usually those for which poverty-alleviation is a main objective.” The following are some examples of organizations that provide financial and non-financial services to persons with disabilities:

In Bangladesh, Bandu Kallyan Foundation (BKF) offers a variety of services to vulnerable populations, including loans to solidarity groups. In 2002, the Foundation started providing interest-free loans to persons with disabilities through solidarity groups. Most persons with disabilities receive individual loans, and individual coaching and monitoring is reinforced.
Oportunidad Latinoamerica Colombia (OLC) provides grants and microcredits to persons with disabilities. They make a special effort to reach this population and complement provision of funding mechanisms with training and advice. OLC decided to specifically target people with disabilities when it realized they were over-represented among the poorest in Colombia. Today, six per cent of their beneficiaries and borrowers have some kind of disability, including victims of landmine.
In Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has six physical rehabilitation centres where persons with traffic or war-related injuries, landmine victims and people with disabilities are provided with artificial limbs and physiotherapy. In 1997, ICRC created a loan scheme after realizing that persons with disabilities’ main goal was to earn an income. Once in an ICRC centre, both the physical rehabilitation and economic needs of a new patient are assessed. For people younger than 30 years, ICRC has a vocational training and an education programme. Persons over 30 can apply for a loan. Each loan application is closely scrutinized before it is accepted. The loan process starts with the preparation of a business plan, followed by an interview from a loan officer and a field visit (home or business place of applicant). Once a project has been accepted, the ICRC does not hand over the money directly but does the purchasing itself according to the agreed budget. Loans are issued to individual persons; collateral or a personal guarantor is required. The loans are interest-free; the repayment period is from six to 18 months, with equal instalments, starting after the first month. Repayment is applied with certain flexibility in case the client faces real difficulties.
In India, certain banks have issued group loans to self-help groups initiated and supported by organizations for persons with disabilities. Self-help groups themselves arrange for the internal loan disbursements and reimbursements. In some cases, self-help groups conduct monitoring of the loans themselves, with the technical support of the organization for persons with disabilities; in other cases, this is done directly by the banks.

Source: “Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries - Funding Mechanisms for Self-Employment”. Handicap International. 2006.

Good Practice: The Role of Financial Institutions

How can a country address economic disparities?

In a recent study the barriers experienced by women with disabilities in dealing with financial institutions were reviewed. The study found that financial institutions require collateral from women with disabilities with no previous business risk information. Another barrier was the risk analysis model used by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in South Africa. This model dictates that before one is granted a loan, he or she must have several years of successful business experience, cash- flow and collateral. This can be a problem for women with disabilities who point out that they rarely have business experience or that they lack collateral or any of the requirements of the risk analysis model.

Many development financing institutions (DFIs) require collateral from someone who lives in poor housing conditions, or who has never been employed or had a business. Women with disabilities need to be evaluated individually against what they are bringing to the table. Women with disabilities are not asking or begging for charity, all they are asking from DFIs is a fair opportunity. Developmental financing needs to be reconsidered to maximize the participation of disabled women in the economy.

The role of development finance institutions is to fund development and therefore they focus on development. DFIs should fund businesses of women with disabilities and respond to their mandate for development and diversification of the economy. It is therefore vital for DFIs and other financial institutions to start supporting diversified development which includes women with disabilities.

Experience shows that DFIs have made progress when they have had a disability-specific agency working with them. The following cases illustrate the point[5]:

In Nicaragua, ProMujer Nicaragua has included people with disabilities within its village banks, and also supports a village bank created by a women-with- disabilities organisation to produce traditional piñatas. Women with disabilities reached out to ProMujer to apply for loans directly – without special conditions. Other than providing financial services – charging market rates that these women with disabilities pay with no trouble – they also provide business training and health care services.

Examples of grants approach: the Trickle up programmes.

Trickle Up is a US-based agency that provides conditional seed capital, business training and other support services to very low-income people, to support their first step out of poverty. Programmes are implemented in partnership with local agencies. Trickle Up’s conditional grants (usually US$100) are typically distributed in two instalments of US$50. This grant model allows Trickle Up to reach the poorest people who are credit adverse or who do not qualify for loans because they have no track record in business, or lack savings, collateral or a guarantor. After a series of meetings with Mobility International USA, Trickle Up decided to specifically target people with disabilities by creating incentives for its local partners to reach out to this population (for instance, by renewing grants to those programmes which make specific efforts to reach people with disabilities).

Diminishing attitudinal barriers: the case of a Peruvian Cooperative

The Peruvian cooperative Maquita Cushunquic works mainly in rural areas and has provided loans to poor people with disabilities. “In the beginning, we were somewhat reticent because we thought people with disabilities spent a lot of money on medicines, were often sick and could not manage a business on their own” said the cooperative’s manager. “However, we have now worked with a few persons with physical impairments and a blind lady, and I can tell you they are among our best clients! They did not ask for any special conditions, only access to the same services that the rest of the people in their communities have. We now realize they are productive members of the community as everyone else.” After these experiences, the staff at Maquita Cushunquic realized that people with disabilities can be successful entrepreneurs. “We encourage our staff to do objective assessments of potential borrowers, instead of neglecting people with disabilities based on prejudices”.

Inclusion into mainstream microfinance: the case of LCI

Leonard Cheshire International (LCI) is a British organization that works globally with people with disabilities. In 1997, LCI set up a credit facility to provide capital for microentrepreneurs willing to start or expand their businesses. After two years, the programme demonstrated that most people with disabilities who had received credit had improved their income. However, LCI was able to reach only a small number of people, and the administrative costs were very high. As a result, LCI redefined its policy and moved from being a credit provider to a promoter of access to credit for persons with disabilities.

Source: “Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries - Funding Mechanisms for Self-Employment”. Handicap International. 2006.

Ensuring Accessibility

Article 9 of the CRPD sets out the responsibility of State parties to take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public. The implementation of Article 9 is an important prerequisite for the realization of the right of persons with disabilities to work.

The concept of equal opportunities refers to the process through which the various systems of society and the environment – such as services, activities, information and documentation – are made available to all, with an emphasis on participation, access and partnerships as principles. Persons with disabilities need access to the provision of supportive devices, information on available skills development and work opportunities, transport and financial assistance. One cannot enjoy a right until one is able to access it without facing any barriers which may hinder such access.

Awareness-Raising

Part of the required shift in thinking necessitates regarding persons with disabilities as individuals with capabilities and addressing the negative myths and stereotypes about persons with disabilities held by some employers, service providers and even some persons with disabilities themselves, as well as various parts of society in general. Employers, for example, may assume that they will receive lower productivity from an individual with a disability. There is, therefore, a need for employers to become more aware of disability and of the productive potential of persons with disabilities, and to become knowledgeable regarding strategies to accelerate the implementation of disability-inclusive employment policies, such as technical and personal support - for example guide dogs, job coaches, provision of personal assistants, readers, signers, sign language interpreters, and technical aids and devices.

A key approach, therefore, to achieving the right of persons with disabilities to work is to raise general society awareness of the work potential and right to employment of persons with disabilities. An effective approach to awareness-raising requires an understanding of the policy environment, identification of the most effective strategies for raising awareness and the provision of support and training to employers to enable them to recognize the potential of persons with disabilities.

Country Checkpoint

Determine the conceptual framework and prevailing attitudes to persons with disabilities in your country. Consider and discuss the following questions:

What is the general level of knowledge about persons with different types of disability?
What are the common perceptions in your country of persons with disabilities and their employment?
How do these beliefs affect the employment situation of persons with disabilities?
What are appropriate strategies for promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in employment and skills development opportunities?

Draw conclusions from the discussion.

Achieving Decent Work Opportunities in the Public Service

In some countries persons with disabilities have had minimal involvement in the employment processes, especially within the public service. They have often been encouraged to pursue work projects such as sewing/tailoring, knitting/craft, carpentry, street vending, farming/agricultural activities, etc. which provide basic skills but do not allow persons with disabilities to work in the formal sector, thus limiting their economic freedom. The public service, including government departments, must take a leadership role as a headline employer and making a real contribution in encouraging other employers to amend their thinking towards seeing themselves as sources of employment for persons with disabilities.

Country Checkpoint

Are the above examples of strategies for disability-inclusive employment relevant to your country? What will work in different employment contexts? In the public sector? In the private sector?

In small businesses? In large companies? In the education sector? In other sectors? How might strategies differ for individuals with different kinds of disability?

[1]UNDP Serbia & ILO, National Employment Service & Ministry of economy and Regional Development.

[2]UN Best Practices for Including Persons with Disabilities in all Aspects of Development Efforts, April 2011.

[3]See Estonia’s national report on the “Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Initial Report Submitted Under Article 35 of the Convention”. 2015.

[4]SENEL: SEN Employment Links: Employment of People with Disabilities in Europe: Overview and examples of good practice from the SENEL partner countries”.

[5]Examples are drawn from “Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries - Funding Mechanisms for Self-Employment”. Handicap International, 2006.