Daily Times

According to the world population review, the unemployment rate in Pakistan for 2019 was six per cent. Securing and maintaining gainful employment becomes all the more difficult for persons having special needs. There is no authentic data available on the employment rate among persons with disabilities in our country, estimates do indicate that it’s far less as compared to regular persons.

1981 was promulgated as the “international year of persons with disabilities.”

In the same year, the government of Pakistan enacted the “Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance for Rehabilitation of Persons with Special Needs.” After the 18th amendment, the Punjab government adopted the ordinance as “Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Amendment Act 2012,” and through this act, a three per cent quota in jobs was reserved for persons with disabilities. In 2012, for facilitating technical education for persons with disabilities, Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA), Punjab, also increased the quota for students with disabilities from two to five per cent.

This is how the situation looks from the lens of policy, legislation and procedures. But when it comes to the practical situation, challenges seem to unfold into further many folds of complexed socio-economic arenas.

To be eligible for skilled jobs, there are certain required qualifications. Typically, persons with physical or visual impairment are the ones who make to higher education institutes. Resultantly, most people selected against reserved quota are with physical challenges followed by people with visual challenges. Many a time, persons with hearing challenges complete their studies in the segregated education system. Despite having good intellectual capabilities, they usually end up falling off the employment wagon due to their communication problems, which amplify in interaction with apprehensions and doubts of employers.

Disability is not a simple concept. There are different types of special needs and even within a specific special need, each individual has a unique set of competencies and challenges. If we talk about intellectual and developmental disabilities this variation becomes more vivid. As they have challenges associated with intellectual capabilities and cannot excel much in formal academics, technical and vocational education is a more practical and approachable option for their economic viability. The TEVTA has done a great job by increasing quota for persons with special needs in training. But the requirement of completing specific diploma/training in a given time is not practical for persons having varying degrees of intellectual challenges. This training gap is usually filled by non-government, not-for-profit organisations and Disabled Persons Organisations (DPO). This gap in the availability of skill training opportunities leads to an increase in unskilled population with special needs.

Employment becomes a bigger challenge for these unskilled or semiskilled persons

Employment becomes a bigger challenge for these unskilled or semiskilled persons. Internationally, different countries have experimented with different employment models. Sheltered employment model (where persons with special needs work under supervised environment) has been generally considered more appropriate for workers having intellectual, developmental or relatively severe disabilities. Another way of facilitating employment is transitional training (where after proper training, workers with special needs are transitioned to the open job market). Few countries evolved transitional training facilities into supported employment (where a job coach is assigned to the worker with special needs and on the job training is provided in the real work environment). Having said that, there are arguments for and against all the above-discussed models of employment for unskilled or semi-skilled persons with special needs. Academic arguments discuss ethical dimensions of these models while arguments from employers are more concerned with required adaptations, gaps in productivity and health hazards etc.

Before discussing the possibilities, I would like to share a couple of real-life scenarios to unfold the current situation in our society. First scenario: A well-known textile group selected half a dozen persons with an intellectual impairment from an NGO to run vocational training unit and provided them with six months training in the use of industrial stitching machines. After successful completion of training, two out of those six were employed by that textile group, but within the next three months, both returned to their parent organisation. Reasons include the inability to meet production demands; harsh behaviour of supervisory staff and emotional stress on those workers with intellectual impairment. The second scenario includes an organisation that announced paid internships for persons with special needs, almost forty candidates showed up, who were mostly with physical challenges. Most of them were from northern Lahore slums and peripheral rural areas. All of them were semiskilled and all were unemployed.

These two scenarios give us an indication of the bitterness and seriousness of the problems faced, especially by un-skilled and semi-skilled persons with special needs. Prevailing challenging financial conditions make things more difficult for them. I think for a more vulnerable segment of this population, sheltered employment can be a practical option. While for others, transitional training followed by a mainstream job can be more practical. But very concentrated efforts are required to raise awareness about the capabilities of workers with special needs in the corporate sector and potential employers, otherwise, they will keep shying away from inclusion in the work environment. Another good option can be empowering, encouraging and facilitating entrepreneurial skills in persons with special needs and through microfinance making them self-employed. Yet again, a structured facilitation mechanism will be required by self-employed individuals for a significant time regarding procurement, marketing and financial management.

Chauncey Depew said, “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are”. The need of the hour is that all stakeholders, including Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs), join hands and work together to create and increase employment opportunities for persons with special needs. Gradually, more socially and economically compatible indigenous practices will evolve.

The writer is a Director Programs & Projects at Rising Sun Education & Welfare Society