Enhancing Employability of Persons with Disabilities

2. Enhancing Employability of Persons with Disabilities

Sector: Employment/ labor Goal: Technical independence

KIPA Focus:

Knowledge and participation

Country: India

Participating Agencies:

Association of People with Disabilities (APD)

Beneficiaries:

All people with disabilities

7. Background: Realizing the importance of economic rehabilitation of people with disabilities to gain recognition, acceptance, and dignity in society, the APD began as a training center for enhancing employability and motivation for self-employment. The New Training Centre to provide formal technical training and the Advanced Training Centre to provide advanced technical skills with shop-floor experience were set up in 1975 to fulfill the needs of economic rehabilitation of trainees with physical disabilities.

8. Goal: The idea of a home-based program was conceived in 1976 for the purpose of economic rehabilitation of people who were home bound because of the severity of disability, inaccessibility due to geographical and logistic constraints, etc..

9. Strategy: APD was envisaged to act as a mediator between industry and workers based in their home or in small ancillary cooperatives. Support of family members was an essential ingredient. Several experiments were tried that had positive impact on promotion of self-employment among the people with disabilities.

10. Output: APD developed 3 ancillary units formed by people with disabilities of different types under the home-based program during 1994–2002. Ability in Disability was the first one, set up in 1994 for supply of mechanical subassemblies to Motor Industries Co. (MICO), a prominent manufacturer in the automobile sector. Fifteen persons run the Ability in Disability unit, of whom 3 have locomotor disabilities and 10 are visually impaired. Ten are women. The unit is subjected to audit conforming to ISO standards by MICO. The APD Utpadana Society was the second unit in the series, set up in 1999 and engaged in supply of electronic subassemblies and components to major electronic industries, such as Indian Telephone Ltd. and Bharath Heavy Electricals Ltd., Bangalore. Of the 32 people in the unit, 24 have locomotor disabilities and 2 are hearing impaired. The third was the Creative Skills Society, set up in 2002, with 14 persons—10 with a hearing impairment and 4 with locomotor disabilities—working to meet requirements of a small-scale electronics industry in Bangalore. APD is gradually withdrawing from the units to allow them to develop into self-managed industrial units owned by people with disabilities, in order to prove their entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities.

11. Major challenges encountered were building competence, instilling confidence, removal of attitudinal barriers, a paradigm shift in the perception of people with disabilities and society, reduction in perpetual dependence on APD, fear of failure, lack of entrepreneurial capabilities, maintenance of quality of products, abuse of facilities offered by the government, and undue expectation of people with disabilities from society.

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12. Results: Knowledge. APD became a role model by its exemplary efforts and experience in empowering people with disabilities to attain economic self-reliance and lead dignified lives. The APD has expanded its area of operations gradually over 4 decades to encompass physiotherapy, orthotic appliances, horticulture, CBR, urban slum outreach, community health, and integrated education. Participation. Over time, APD has ensured that people with disabilities lead the decision making regarding its strategic development.