INTO WORK Conference 2003: Promoting the Employment of People With Motor Disabilities
The European Union has declared 2003 as the European Year of People with Disabilities. The basic aims are to combat discrimination against people with disabilities and to foster equal opportunities. These aims should apply, particularly in all areas of employment. The INTO WORK Conference 2003 supports these aims and seeks to take forward both knowledge and practices which can benefit people with motor disabilities.
Aims
The main aims of the INTO WORK Conference 2003 are:
- To enhance the dialogue between the social partners and Member States on the subjects of social exclusion, disability and employment;
- To present best practices by employers who have recruited people with mobility disabilities;
- To explore issues about integration of motor disabled people in the labour market and at work;
- To highlight ways to increase employability through new assessment methods, innovative vocational training and acquisition of IT skills;
- To promote new technologies as a means to enhancing employment and entrepreneurship for disabled people.
Background
Disability is undoubtedly one of the basic concerns of society today. It is widely acknowledged that disabled people have a right to full participation in all aspects of life: education, leisure, training and, not least, work. However, society has not taken the necessary steps to guarantee such access for disabled people.
- The unemployment rate of disabled people is three times as high as for the rest of the working population.
- The employment rate of blind and partially sighted persons in Europe is now falling.
- Workplaces are frequently inaccessible to people with motor and sensory disabilities.
- Disabled people may be discriminated against when seeking a job and.
Measures must therefore be taken to ensure the smooth and equal integration of people with disabilities into society as a whole. As part of the road to integration, vocational rehabilitation and training of people with disabilities is essential. This applies whether an individual seeks to retain a job after illness or injury, or when seeking employment as a disabled person for the first time.
Current statistics show that 12 to 14 percent of the population in Greece has some form of disability, with a wide range of causes ranging from genetic to accidents, mostly automobile accidents. All types of mobility disabilities account for 3/5ths of the total disabled population, and the population of the mobility disabled in Greece is estimated to be at about 550.000 persons.
The greater percentage of the mobility disabled comes from traffic accidents where Greece has one of the highest rates of serious accidents in the world. A particularly important element is that most people becoming disabled as a result of traffic accidents are between the ages of 18 and 35. They therefore comprise a portion of the potentially active working population: people who are already employed or will come into the labour market and who represent an important educational, professional and social asset that remains untapped. While disabled persons have to deal with their disability on a daily basis, it is often forgotten that it is possible for anyone to find him/herself in a similar situation. Disability is therefore not just a problem affecting disabled persons but, potentially everyone.
Until today, passive social policies have been used to deal with the social integration and job market placement of disabled people, especially those with mobility disabilities. The European Directive on Equal Opportunities and Non-Discrimination in the field of Employment (2000) shall now be passed into law in all EU Member States, giving disabled people greater security when seeking a job and in employment. This and other policy frameworks, as well as voluntary initiatives by employers, must be leveraged to provide improved training and jobs for disabled people. In this, the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003, a great chance exists to overcome barriers and expand employment opportunities. The INTO WORK Conference 2003 will point the way forward.
Workshops
Four workshops will address the following themes:
- Social Dialogue and Inclusion In the Labour Market for People with Motor Disabilities
- Leveraging Technology to Promote the Employment of People with Motor Disabilities
- Examples of Good Practices of Inclusion in the Labour Market of People with Motor Disabilities
- New Approaches for the Inclusion of Disabled People in the Labour Market
Organisation
The conference is co-funded by the European Social Fund and the European EQUAL Programme and is organised jointly by the SDV-NetJob project in cooperation with the "PROTEUS" developmental coalition.
SDV-NetJob is a project financed by the European Social Fund in the framework of actions under Article 6 Innovative Measures, aiming at the vocational training of people with disabilities in new technologies and finding them a job as IT professionals. This project consists of the transfer to Greece of the Danish "NetJob" training scheme for people with disabilities. This scheme has had an 85 percent success rate in getting trainees into long-term mainstream jobs. With Danish, Greek and Irish partners, the project has also established the Internet portal you are currently visiting.
The Developmental Partnership PROTEAS is a network of 16 organizations (comprising organizations and other legal entities that are involved in a variety of fields of activity such as rehabilitation of disabled people, vocational training, health, mass media, local development, business associations, private companies, etc.). In the framework of the EU initiative EQUAL Action Line 3.1 "Promoting lifelong learning and inclusive work practices", PROTEAS is implementing an intervention plan entitled, "Adjustment of people with physical disabilities to targeted working places. The project is included in the programme of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance for the EU EQUAL initiative, receiving 75 percent co-funding from the European Social Fund. It aims to ensure and retain employment for people with motor disabilities through a comprehensive and holistic model of intervention for the adaptability of both people with motor disabilities and targeted working environments.