VOICE OF THE
WORKERS ISSUE 26 July 2014
Contents Crossing the Ability Divide
02
The Challenge for Personal Integration & Independence
03
Disability: Multifaceted Issues 05
Changing Hearts and Minds Nine-times Wimbledon tennis champion Martina Navratilova once said: “Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” The issue of disability may be a misnomer if we are to talk about people who have different but useful abilities. Disability issues have come a long way from the time that individuals were kept hidden and locked up, out of public view. People are becoming more educated, and perceptions are changing. However, we are significantly far off from the stage where we VOICE OF THE
WORKERS
can call our society inclusive. A clear lithmus test of inclusivity is participation of disabled people at the workplace. Here, participation is very low, and the number of disabled persons looking for work is on the increase. Reasons for this are various. One issue is the sheer diversity of disabled persons. This makes it very difficult to draft one size fits all policies. Since needs and issues are different, so are the solutions to tackling them. Other issues include employer and employee attitudes. Many
The Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe
06
Disability: The bigger picture
07
Editor’s note josef Vella look to employ disabled people as an act of charity; others prefer to publicly declare what needs to be done, but fail to walk the talk. Many times, we fail to see that employing disabled persons may actually be a bonus to the organisation. Some persons would need specific training that will prove profitable in the long run. Naturally, since disability issues vary, there may be persons who can be provided with sheltered employment. This can be done through co-operatives, whereby groups of disabled persons and 1