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People with disabilities should have a same chance to find a job as people without disabilities. There are many examples which show that people with disabilities can have a real job. Organisations and government should help people with disabilities to work by:
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The unemployment rates of people with disabilities are far higher than the numbers for non-disabled population. Nevertheless, numerous good practices show us which kind of support and assistance should be provided to people with disabilities to minimize inequalities in the labour market.
Pentru Voi is a Romanian NGO supporting people with intellectual disabilities in the city of Timisoara. Supported employment is a well-known service developed by the association to improve the chances of people with intellectual disabilities to enter the labour market. The service includes different types of support. People with intellectual disabilities are firstly lead through vocational training. They receive assistance in job seeking as well as in adapting the position to their specific needs in designing work schedule, gaining team work skills, etc.
After signing the work contract, they are offered the job coach daily support to follow up their working placement and advice to the employer as well to employee to perform the best his or her new tasks. Pentru Voi delivered supported employment services already to more than 60 persons with intellectual disabilities.
In Austrian province of Voralberg, people will intellectual disabilities have a choice to choose between supported employment in a company in the general labour market and work in a sheltered workshop. The model called SPAGAT of the Institut für Sozialdienste Voralberg helps people with intellectual disabilities to find work in the open labour market and get support to start their career. Additional legal and financial conditions established by the region of Vorarlberg also improved the employability of persons with intellectual disabilities, as the region is subsidising the salaries of people with disabilities – paying the difference between their remuneration and actual productivity.
In Luxembourg, an impulse to assist the unemployed people with disabilities with entry into the labour market came from the Ministry of Work and Employment. A new contact centre serves as a mediator between job-seekers and employers. Its aim is to provide fast and efficient guidance on the labour market on the phone. Besides, it assists people with special needs who lost their job because of their disability to find or create employment opportunities matching their expectations and abilities.
