Open Employment Opportunities For People With Disabilities (Pwds) & Challenges

Dr Vandana Sharma Oct 25, 2018

The right to work is directly linked to the acceptability of a person in a community. However, if the person in question has some disability, things change drastically. For the person with disabilities, the real challenge here is exploring their ability to work in any field or skill them according to their capabilities to make them part of the working population.

Scenario in India

In India, it is estimated that disabled people constitute around 4-5% of the population. Another World Bank report indicates that between 4 to 8% of India’s population comes under the category of differently abled. In total it is a huge part of the population that is ready to work as per their competencies but either they are not skilled adequately or are a victim of severe discrimination. Despite a huge population of disabled people constituting a significant part of the population, their prospects for meaningful employment largely remain unmet.

Skill development

It is estimated that there are approximately between 5 and 5.5 million disabled people in the age bracket 12-24 years. It is a huge segment of the untapped labour force. With the government’s initiatives like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan that focuses on inclusive education, the number of educated persons with disability is gradually increasing. In addition to that with assistive devices and technological advances skilling, this population segment has become easier. Such initiatives are bringing positive changes in society. It is making them even more acceptable in society and they are better equipped to join the mainstream workforce.

Employment

Various organizations working with disabled people propagate a strong role of the companies employing disabled people in their growth and providing them a platform to live an independent life in the society. However, there are several attitudinal barriers to providing employment opportunities:

It is assumed by the employers that other workers may react negatively if people with disabilities are hired.

It is people with disabilities that often shy away from even applying for certain jobs. They fear social stigma and adverse reactions from potential co-workers.

At a certain period, people with disabilities reach a development plateau where they are unable to learn new things or are not comfortable to perform further complex assignments.

They are also not able to undertake assignments with greater responsibilities due to their disabilities.

Another challenge is for it becomes difficult for people with disabilities to adjust in the fast pace of environment of the companies.

Also, people with disabilities have limited interaction with other people in the organization.

These are the challenges a person with disabilities faces, however, there is a huge segment that where there are persons with intellectual challenges. For this group, opportunities are even less and they face a lot more biasness. Companies must promote sheltered workshops for these people that would help them acquire a suitable skill. People who are People with intellectually challenged are mainly comfortable to do repetitive jobs and this is where companies can come forward in providing adequate training and suitable employment. A sheltered workshop model can be created within their workplaces as a comfort zone where they can work under the supervision of rehabilitation professional in a safe environment.

Experts point out that there are many reasons that favour employment of people with disabilities – there is less attrition, there is higher productivity, they are loyal to the company and they are always ready to learn. Companies need to be sensitized and made aware of the needs and requirement of this workforce. Also, adequate policy changes can help people with disabilities get vocational rehabilitation.

There is an urgent need to recognize the needs and requirements in this segment. Serious efforts need to be made to include them as productive members of the community so that they can live a life worth living with dignity.