Persons with disabilities

253. The importance of skills training for persons with disabilities has long been recognized by the ILO, with an emphasis on promoting access to general skills development services along with and under the same conditions as non-disabled people wherever possible (Recommendation No. 99, 1955; Convention No. 159 and Recommendation No. 168, 1983). This theme of inclusion is further enhanced in later ILO instruments and in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006.

254. This section of the report focuses on approaches, programmes and policies that bring persons with disabilities into the mainstream of economic and productive life by improving their access to decent quality learning, training and employment services. Much of the available information on policies is from OECD countries, while many of the lessons from programmes and projects are gleaned from experience in developing countries.

4.3.1. Skill needs to improve employability and productivity

255. Disabled persons, in particular women, are generally very disadvantaged in the labour market. They tend to be more inactive, to be over-represented among the unemployed and to have much lower earnings than non-disabled people. Their experience of early adult life is often beset by frustration, disappointment and reduced confidence in the strengths they bring to the labour market because career aspirations have simply not translated into employment (Burchardt, 2005).

256. In connection with their marginalized position in the labour force, people with disabilities often end up in passive assistance programmes, receiving disability benefits or pensions, in countries where such schemes exist or relying on family support or charity in countries which do not have such schemes. They are more likely to be poor: 82 per cent of disabled people worldwide live below the poverty line (Hope, 2003); 20 per cent of all people living on less than a dollar a day worldwide are disabled (Elwan, 1999). Like other poor people, persons with disabilities have very limited access to education and training that could help improve their potential productivity, employment and income-earning prospects.

257. Women and girls with disabilities face double discrimination in education, training and employment that cuts across cultures and development levels. Whereas significant progress has been achieved globally with regard to literacy rates and education levels in

general, very little of such progress has involved girls and women with disabilities. There is still a common attitude that a disabled woman has little hope of becoming a wife or mother, or of getting a decent job, whereas it is more widely accepted that a man, despite his disability, is capable of earning an income and providing for a family. This differential attitude has a great impact on women’s access to education and appropriate training (Biasiato, 2007).

258. Global gross domestic product (GDP) lost annually owing to disability (comprising social benefits paid to, and loss of productive potential of, people with disabilities) is massive (Metts, 2000). In the United Kingdom (UK), it is estimated that the economy would receive a return of £13 billion if the employment rate for people with disabilities was comparable to the national average, and that by 2020 the UK economy would grow by £35 billion if the skills of people with disabilities were developed to world-leading levels (Evans, 2007).

259. The ageing of the workforce in many developed countries also means that an increasing proportion of the workforce will have age-related disabilities and the effective recruitment and retention of disabled people will therefore increasingly affect national productivity. This is particularly the case in economies experiencing skills and labour shortages. “Low employment rates of disabled people are ... increasingly becoming an issue for reasons of macro-economic efficiency, which is concerned with making progress in using grossly under-utilised human resources” (OECD, 2003).

260. Evidence of the skills deficit among persons with disabilities is accumulating, as many countries are “activating” disabled people by, for example, introducing “welfare to work” initiatives (OECD, 2003). Even when quota systems are in place to increase formal sector job opportunities for disabled people, skill deficits remain a barrier. In Thailand, for example, between 1996 and 1998 over 9,000 designated disabled job vacancies per year could not be filled by the public employment service because qualified disabled applicants could not be found (ILO, 2003d). In Germany, the quota level has recently been reduced from 6 to 5 per cent because there were insufficient numbers of qualified persons with disabilities to fill the available jobs.

261. Disabled people in open mainstream employment often reach high productivity levels, supporting the “business case” for employing them (Zadek and Scott-Parker, 2001). A survey among Australian employers found that employees with disabilities were rated lower than average employees on some productivity factors (speed and accuracy), and better on others (attendance and sick leave) and employee maintenance factors (recruitment, safety, insurance costs) (Graffam et al., 2002). In the United States, employers that accommodate workers with disabilities improve productivity owing to longer retention of trained disabled workers and savings in workers’ compensation and other insurance costs (Job Accommodation Network, 2007).

4.3.2. Skills training options for persons with disabilities

262. People with disabilities access training in a variety of ways – through mainstream or special training institutions, on-the-job training, informal apprenticeships or active labour market policies. These training options differ in terms of costs and likelihood of moving trainees into productive mainstream employment, their long-range goal.

263. Mainstreaming policies for skills training in many countries now aim to enable disabled persons to participate in general-population vocational training institutions and programmes. Vocational education and training centres may provide a range of assistance services, as well as technical aids and adaptations to meet disability-related support requirements. However, a number of significant barriers have been identified:

for example, disabled students often have limited access to mainstream courses as they often cannot pay tuition fees or do not meet entry requirements, training centres may be inaccessible and inadequate preparations may have been made to accommodate trainees with disabilities. The results of mainstreaming initiatives point to other challenges as well, as illustrated in the case of Australia (box 4.7).

Box 4.7

Australia: Labour market outcomes of vocational education and training for people with disabilities

The Bridging Pathways national action plan 2000–05 was introduced with the aim of creating a vocational education and training system that would lead to international best practice in achieving equitable outcomes for people with disabilities. Specifically, the plan of action aims to increase access for persons with disabilities to vocational education and training; to improve their successful participation and achievement in all fields of study and levels; and to achieve outcomes in employment and lifelong learning that also increase their contribution to the economic and social life of the community. Following recognition that people with a disability in vocational education and training continue to experience lower levels of employment before and after training, compared to the general result, a revised Bridging Pathways Blueprint was introduced in 2004. This Blueprint points to progress achieved but says “despite pockets of achievement, we are still struggling to see substantial employment outcomes”.

Source: Australian National Training Authority, 2004, p. 19.

264. Training in special centres predominated in early vocational rehabilitation approaches. They emphasized separate dedicated training facilities for people with disabilities. These institutions – including sheltered workshops using a production-based approach to training – continue to operate in both developed and developing countries. 265. An oft-stated objective of sheltered workshops is to increase the “work capacity” of people with disabilities so they may secure employment elsewhere once they are fully trained and rehabilitated. However, in general, sheltered employment has had very little effect on the productivity of people with disabilities and their integration into the community (Murphy and Rogan, 1995). In many countries this has led to setting targets for transitioning from sheltered workplace-based training to mainstream employment and to considerable change in the operation of dedicated training centres, including improving the labour market relevance of courses offered and linking courses to national certification frameworks (box 4.8).

Box 4.8 Trinidad and Tobago

The National Centre for Persons with Disabilities in Trinidad offers two-year skills training programmes in a range of courses certified by the National Examination Council of the Ministry of Education. In addition to technical skills, the programmes include remedial numeracy, reading and writing skills, computer literacy and independent living skills, to equip individuals with disabilities with the work-related and social skills necessary for success in the open labour market. Trainees initially undergo a programme of vocational assessment and may also attend the Work Adjustment Training Programme, which focuses on improving individuals’ work-related behaviour and developing core skills for employability. After successful completion of the programmes, graduates are channelled into advanced training or apprenticeship programmes, with support and guidance as required, before moving on to jobs at companies in the locality. Ongoing counselling and guidance is provided to graduates as they move from being apprentices to becoming full-time or part-time employees. Over 55 per cent of graduates find jobs in open employment and some enter self-employment.

266. Enterprise-based training of people with disabilities is encouraged by government subsidies and workplace modifications, increasingly deployed to encourage people with disabilities to engage in open “supported” employment. Such employment also provides individual coaching and training support to people with disabilities in mainstream jobs. This type of training has been found to outperform other rehabilitation programmes (Frölich et al., 2004; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2006). It is also cost-effective: at the average cost of employing one disabled person in a sheltered job for one year, Remploy (a UK-based provider of services to people with disabilities) can successfully help four people find jobs with mainstream employers (Remploy, 2007). As it gradually closes its sheltered workshops, Remploy foresees a quadrupling of the number of people they can place in high-quality open employment each year.

267. Skills training partnerships in which employers collaborate with local training or employment service agencies have proven to be highly successful in equipping people with disabilities with marketable skills. Training may involve several levels ranging from basic employability skills to more advanced employer needs. In Canada, for example, both the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank have repeatedly used the approach to hire entry-level bank tellers and customer service representatives. Costs are typically covered by the Government through community service agencies, and training may be provided by the agencies in collaboration with a regional training institution. In the Republic of Korea, several employers collaborate with the Korea Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled (KEPAD) in placing and training workers with disabilities, with KEPAD undertaking the recruitment and pre-employment training of the disabled workers and advising on workplace adjustment, and the companies undertaking on-the-job training (ILO, 2007h). Employers have cited many benefits to the approach: savings in recruitment time; financial savings through reduced training costs; lower employee attrition rates and associated recruitment and retraining costs; the creation of a more representative and diverse workforce as often required by legislation; and a better understanding of the diverse needs of customers – including those with disabilities.

268. ICT training for subsequent employment of disabled people in ICT-related jobs and sectors has enormous potential both in developed and developing countries. For example, in the Republic of Korea, following preparatory training arranged by KEPAD, CJ Telenix provides training for people with disabilities to work as call-centre operators from their own homes. While the cost of establishing these home-based workstations is high, the expense is more than recouped in terms of increased productivity and customer satisfaction (ILO, 2007h).

269. Training people with disabilities who work in the informal economy is a double challenge. Firstly, those who work in the informal economy, including many disabled people, are often uneducated and have received little or no training. Secondly, the work is almost inherently characterized as low in both productivity and earnings. A variety of training models have been used to develop skills to upgrade work in the informal economy (see example from Cambodia below). Formal training programmes have generally had little impact. Nevertheless, there are individual success stories that illustrate, in general terms, the productivity benefits of skills development for disabled people who work in the informal economy.

Box 4.9 Cambodia

Under the auspices of the Alleviating Poverty through Peer Training (APPT) project in Cambodia, people with disabilities (having either reduced mobility or a visual disability) wishing to start their own informal sector enterprise were given in-house training in already established businesses. A total of 511 people with disabilities (including 290 women) were trained and 423 (including 248 women) started a business. Another 74 participants improved their existing businesses. Using a simple learning-by-doing approach, the APPT addressed the particular skills development needs of disabled people in rural localities in a developing country. The project replicated the skills and practices of successful businesses. Careful planning ensured that markets were not flooded by too many new businesses offering similar products or services. The APPT strategy has now been adopted by NGOs, so that its continuity is assured for the immediate future at least. Throughout the project implementation, government officials seconded to the project were provided with an opportunity to gain awareness of training and employment challenges confronting persons with disabilities and experience in using the APPT approach to overcome them.

Source: ILO, 2008b.

270. People with disabilities also acquire employable skills through active labour market policies. So far, this has especially been the case in OECD countries. In Canada, for example, the various Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities are designed to help people with disabilities overcome barriers and become active in the labour force (box 4.10). Agreements between the federal Government and individual provinces/territories support a broad range of programmes and services, including job coaching and mentoring; pre-employment training and skills upgrading; post-secondary education; assistive aids and devices; and a variety of workplace supports that help people with disabilities to develop marketable skills and find employment.

Box 4.10

Work Foundations, Alberta, Canada

In Alberta Province, Canada, the Work Foundations programme, available to all Albertans including those with disabilities, provides basic skills training to enable participants to pursue further job-related training and/or find employment. The Training for Work programme assists low-income Albertans to gain occupational skills and some basic academic and/or employability skills needed to obtain employment and become self-sufficient. Of the 1,300 Albertans with disabilities who participated in the programme in 2005–06, 70 per cent completed their training and of these 51 per cent were employed or self-employed within three months. The Alberta Provincial Board for Persons with Developmental Disabilities provides funding for a range of initiatives including “employment preparation supports” that are designed to assist individuals with skills development for employment and exploring the world of work, and “employment placement supports” that help individuals maintain employment and/or self-employment. Source: Provincial Government of Alberta, 2006.

271. Inappropriate disability legislation may nevertheless reduce the uptake of people with disabilities in employment and thereby constrain them with regard to being productive members of the labour force. For example, Viet Nam still places mandatory restrictions on the number of hours per day (seven) that a person with a disability can work, a policy that reduces employers’ incentive to hire them as it implies that all disabled people have lower work capacity and productivity. In the United States and Australia, the employment rates of disabled persons fell following the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Australian Disability Discrimination Act (Stapleton and Burkhauser, 2003; Australian Public Service Commission, 2006). The

protections afforded in these laws may have dissuaded employers from recruiting disabled workers. However, the employment effect of anti-discrimination legislation in the United States may become more positive in the future as young people with disabilities face less discrimination in completing formal education and training (Imparato, 2002).

272. To summarize, enhancing the skills of disabled people can improve their ability to either secure formal economy jobs, where they exist, or to increase their income- generating capacity in the informal economy, where formal jobs are scarce. On-the-job training has been found to be more effective than institution-based training, although special centres that have introduced relevant training, delivered effectively with accredited certification and follow-up support services, have had considerable success in placing graduates. While a policy of mainstreaming training has been adopted recently in many countries, there is to date no compelling evidence with regard to its effectiveness. The primary aim of training is to lead to higher-productivity employment and higher income in good-quality formal jobs. Targeted training – if well designed and accompanied by appropriate employment services – can greatly increase the ability of persons with disabilities to obtain such mainstream employment. As with the other target groups covered in this chapter, persons with disabilities are a diverse group with different support requirements. Some can benefit from inclusive training once reasonable accommodation is made. Others need greater support and sometimes targeted or separate training.