by Leonard J Sherrott

Created on: January 31, 2008

Equal opportunity for disabled people is a global matter which we are learning to address. Before government intervention through the agencies of Human Services and Social Welfare, the Australian experience was that disability was a sentence, not just a word. As recently as the late twentieth century, institutionalization was the norm for housing people with severe mental and physical disabilities.

Today, those people arguably enjoy as human an existence as can be provided. There are no institutions and no person can be discriminated against on the grounds of race, gender or disability when applying for employment.

The extent to which this proactive stance has progressed is encouraging. Last year I attended the first 'Futures for Young Adults' Expo, in our region, which was convened to assist senior secondary students of disability to map their career paths. Many of those students having spent several years in special school education' go on to college, albeit that the curriculum is modified to suit their requirements and special abilities.

While privatization in my experience is not normally associated with improved infrastructure services, the disbanding of the government Commonwealth Employment Service has led to the establishment of better service through delegated private agencies. Many of them are specialized in certain fields. Some are community based, while others are private consultants. Most importantly, they all have the expertise to understand and address the job market appropriately. As a result vast opportunities exist for special needs people to integrate in a normal working environment, rather than to stagnate in a sheltered workshop.

Support from the agencies goes a lot further than merely finding jobs. The consultant ensures, through visiting sites and liaising with prospective employers, that the work place is appropriate for the client and that Occupational Health and Safety is strictly observed and complied with. Having placed an employee the consultant monitors his or her progress closely.

The biggest change in workplace attitude is that disabled people are now employed on the basis of what they can do, not what they can't. In other words, they are being trained on the job to work to the best of their ability and in some cases, in spite of it.

In terms of the government assisting, I have no doubt that the agency receives a subsidy for their specialized role. If the job of securing futures for people of such individual needs was left to the state however, it is hard to perceive a result of the high standard presently attained, due to the intensive resources required.

Some of the agencies in service for your further reading;

http:www.wiseemployment.com.au WISE

http:www.mambourin.org Mambourin

http:www.scopevic.org.au SCOPE

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