Seminar on 'Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities' 2nd Oct 2010

Seminar on 'Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities'

2nd October 2010

Awareness Voluntary Organization Project: Awareness Pakistan conducted a seminar on 2nd October,2010 to focus on how to ensure decent work for Persons with Disabilities and ways to tap into the abilities of this marginalized talent pool. In every society very few Persons with Disabilities are gainfully employed. Employers often resist employing a Person with Disabilities believing they will be unable to perform their roles and/or that it would be too expensive to maintain the work force of Persons with Disabilities. However, the discrimination often begins a lot earlier in life, when Persons with Disabilities are denied other opportunities that would facilitate their inclusion into the workforce, such as education or training in employable skills, accessible transportation to get to work, and accessible workplaces. In Pakistan almost up to 80% of Persons with Disabilities of working age are unemployed. Most others are under-employed or will never have access to the labour market. Everywhere there is a sizable gap between the working conditions and employment trends of persons with disabilities and those without a disability. Therefore Persons with Disabilities are dependent upon begging, hand-outs, and welfare for their livelihood, rather than any meaningful employment. It is the right of Persons with Disabilities to earn a living from freely chosen work, and to work in an environment that is both accessible and accepting.

This seminar will emphasize to shorten the gap by mutual strategies where Business groups, Governments, and Persons with Disabilities can work closely together to address both the lack of opportunities that prevent Persons with Disabilities from entering the workforce and the attitudes found among employers. For many Persons with Disabilities self-employment is the only option. The Government should consider ways that support Persons with Disabilities in this area, such as the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in schemes such as micro-credit and micro-finance, which have largely excluded Persons with Disabilities as potential beneficiaries.

The seminar was an invaluable opportunity for Governments, business groups and Persons with Disabilities to discuss and formulate ways that allow Persons with Disabilities to participate fully in the labour market.

Mr Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Training Consultant) Facilitated this Seminar