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1 May is the International Day for Workers On 1 May, FEAPS talked about jobs for people with disabilities FEAPS is a Spanish association that works for the rights of people with disabilities and their families Just as everybody else, people with disabilities have: • the skills to work • the right to work Companies should hire more people with disabilities. FEAPS is teaching companies how to work with people with disabilities. |
On 1 May, the International Workers’ Day, Inclusion Europe member FEAPS, along with the Spanish Association for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities (AEDIS) launched an appeal to private companies in Spain to show greater commitment to the employment of people with intellectual disabilities.
According to estimates by the Spanish Association for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities, (AEDIS), out of the total number of people with disabilities currently employed in Spain, only 29% work in private companies.The Spanish General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and their Social Inclusion from 3 December, 2013, provides that companies employing 50 or more workers are required to hire a number of people with disabilities that would amount to at least 2% of their total staff. In reality, data published by Spanish Public Employment Service (SEPS) showed that in 2013, only 29% of all people with disabilities were employed by private companies, compared to the 71% of people with disabilities active on the labour market, who worked within the Special Employment Centres (EEC) framework. The EEC is comprised of companies which focus primarily on the employment and social integration of people with disabilities.
Therefore, FEAPS and AEDIS are encouraging companies to take into account people who have greater difficulty in finding paid employment, such as people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Both associations are speaking out in support of equal employment opportunities, demanding that the business sector and society in general start seeing people with disabilities as potential workers. Not only do people with disabilities possess the necessary skills to be hired, they also have the right to an accessible work environment, which also allows them to successfully balance work and family life. AEDIS and FEAPS’s collective experience shows that for a person with intellectual disabilities, getting a job has an incredibly positive impact on their quality of life, being a major step in their process of self-advocacy, towards the full exercise of their civil rights and complete social inclusion.
According to FEAPS, despite public sector difficulties caused by the crisis, Spanish authorities have shown particular sensitivity regarding the issue at hand, evidenced by the implementation of the 2% hiring quota. In further collaboration with Spanish public administration, FEAPS offers support to private businesses, assistance designed to promote the full workplace integration of persons with intellectual disabilities.
This year FEAPS turns 50. During the past five decades, the organisation has concentrated its efforts on becoming what they are today: a determined social movement that helps persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families enhance their quality of life by promoting their inclusion as full citizens in a just society. From 1964 until the present day, FEAPS has consolidated an Associative Movement consisting of almost 900 institutions across Spain, representing more than 139.700 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, together with 235.000 family members, and a team of up to 40.000 professionals and 8.000 volunteers.
AEDIS is a nation-wide business organization, promoted by FEAPS, representing and defending socio-economic labour companies engaged in the provision of care, support, education, training and labour inclusion of people with disabilities.
