Employment and infrastructure lacking for the disabled

Ten percent of the Sri Lankan population are disabled and there is absolutely no infrastructure to show for it, according to Warren Jansen, PR and Communications Manager for Motivation, a UK based organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.

In 1996, an Act to protect the rights of the disabled was introduced in Sri Lanka and currently, another bill is being pushed through Parliament which will make it mandatory for public places to be accessible for the disabled. V. Jegarasingham, Secretary to the Ministry of Social Services & Social Welfare, speaking at the inauguration of the 4th consecutive Job Fair for people with disabilities last week, said employment was a prime need for everyone and that the environment has to be made accessible, "Otherwise, the environment is disabling."

The Motivation Charitable Trust in conjunction with the Employers' Network on Disability of the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC), funded by USAID, hosted the Job Fair at which 19 companies participated. From its inception, several members of the EFC such as MAS Holdings, Commercial Bank, CEI Plastics, and ID Lanka Ltd have continually participated by absorbing people with various disabilities into their workforce. All participants go through preliminary training in "Job Seeking and Keeping Skills" conducted by Motivation under their Employment Placement Programme (EPP) which is fully endorsed by the International Labour Organization and the Ministry.

Gotabaya Dasanayaka, Director General of the EFC said over 100 disabled persons were recruited in the previous three job fairs and that he is hoping around 30 more will find employment this time out of the 80 which were pre-selected and trained for the interviews. He urged the potential employees to follow the advice of companies by getting extra training and going for follow up interviews and not getting disheartened if employment is not offered after the first interview. These job fairs put "marginalized people into productive employment," Dasanayaka said. He added that the fact that 100 employed so far might seem like a small number but the important thing to realize is that they are with the "cream of the private sector." Indeed, the list of participating companies include Dialog Telekom, MAS Holdings, Royal Ceramic Lanka Ltd, Forbes & Walker Ltd, Hatton National Bank, Shadow Line, Keells Hotel Management, Commercial Bank, Agalawatta Plantation, Ceylon Leather Products Ltd, CEI Plastics, SJMS Associated and ID Lanka Ltd amongst others.

Job seekers were divided into categories depending on their particular expertise and background such as finance, information technology, manual jobs, artistic skills, shop and office work, science, management, education and training. Benjamin Kauffeld, the Humanitarian Assistance Program Manager for USAID said the right to employment is a human right, and therefore, it is important to provide opportunity and to remove barriers which keep talented people out of the job market. According to Dasanayaka, negative attitudes towards employing the disabled are widespread for several reasons. One reason is that companies fear the extra costs involved in providing the proper environment. There is also the stigma the disabled have to overcome of being given jobs with little or no responsibility because companies fear they will not be dependable. However, Dasanayaka says that companies who have hired say it has been a great experience.

Madubashini Wimalaratne is considered to be a prime example of the success of these job fairs. She is a phone operator for Motivation and has been for the past 7 months. She says she has absolutely no problems answering the phone and has 500 numbers memorized. Before finding this job, she was unemployed and "doing nothing." Now, she describes her work as interesting with lots of responsibilities. A cabinet memorandum has been passed declaring 2007 the year for accessibility with the slogan, "Accessibility Enables Everyone" according to Jegarasingham. The Ministry is committed to making public places more accessible to the disabled and met with the private section in September 2006 to institute some of those changes. Improvements also have to be made at railway stations. ITN television will introduce changes to make their news broadcasts for the hearing impaired starting on January 1, 2007. The Ministry also conducts several training programmes through CSR initiatives with the private sectors as well as Non Governmental Organizations. Motivation is not only involved in training programmes and supporting and advocating for the rights of the disabled but also provides wheelchairs and prosthetics.
- (NG)