Support to Job Integration
by Vitantonio ZITO
Lengthy reflections and an in-depth analysis would be necessary for such a major theme as the support towards labour integration of visually impaired people.
As I am not allowed much time, though, I will be short but nonetheless hope to make a concrete contribution to the discussion through a few proposals based on both experience-on-the-field and the real requirements of the labour market.
Innovative and - above all - lifelong training is to be considered the first and fundamental support to the labour integration of visually impaired people.
If we really aim at offering a wider array of suitable jobs to blind and partially sighted people, we must -in fact - adequately meet the requirements of the new set up of the labour market, which has been brought about by constant technological advances.
To achieve this goal two things are necessary: first, an integrated system capable of helping visually impaired people to gain access to the labour market by bringing out their abilities and skills; second, a support institution capable of identifying new specific employment opportunities for blind people.
In order to find and maintain a balance among the different labour market's requirements (supply and demand), which need mediation, we must promote all opportunities towards identifying both new professions suitable for visually impaired people and the adequate employment environment where they are motivated to best carry them out.
We must of course provide employers with support and advice in order for them to conform to the new laws modifying the existing legislation in the field, if any. Employers will also need to be given useful tools to identify new jobs, aiming at the promotion of high-performance workplaces. As a consequence, blind workers will be able to carry out their jobs to the benefit of the community.
In order for visually impaired people to gain access to and re-integration into the labour market, it is necessary to involve and raise awareness among:
1. people who are directly concerned (blind people, partially sighted people, multi-handicapped people and their families);
2. professionals (teachers, educators, trainers);
3. legislators and local administrations;
4. health service and rehabilitation workers (psychologists, sociologists, ergotherapists);
5. researchers;
6. employers/businesses (enterprises, craft industries, commerce and trade, co-operatives)
To encourage a wider access to the labour market for persons who were previously excluded, it is also necessary to establish databases including a register of visually impaired people both unemployed in search of a job and employed in search of a better job that they consider to be more suitable and rewarding. The register should indicate - for each individual - skills, developable skills and suitable jobs. At the same time the requirements of the employers should be identified in relation to jobs reserved to blind people.
The national policy regarding employment and the labour market in Italy allows for private agencies to carry out a mediation activity in the allocation of jobs, aimed at a more effective and competitive job placement. Therefore the Italian Union of the Blind has established the "National Agency for the promotion of the employment of blind people", which is allocated the task of compensating for the missing link between supply and demand as regards blind people.
The Agency should also promote - on an experimental basis - the carrying out of the following targeted activities:
1. staff search and selection based on its own database;
2. individualised planning;
3. vocational counselling in co-operation with schools;
4. vocational training in collaboration with the Institute for Research, Vocational Training and Rehabilitation (IRIFOR);
5. evaluation and assessment of professional potentials and competencies;
6. study of the requirements of the employers regarding specific jobs;
7. analysis of the category being discriminated against in order to assess the visually impaired people's suitability to acquire the necessary knowledge and competencies for them to carry out the professions that have been identified;
8. psychological support through the planning of targeted interventions aimed at improving visually impaired people’s knowledge and skills toward the integration of blind people into the labour market. This would help them to overcome any possible difficulties and keep up to date regarding their professional activities;
9. dissemination through the most effective means of the collected data (subject to privacy legislation). This will allow all persons concerned to make use of them.
This programme, which allows blind people to acquire not only basic skills but also the necessary skills to carry out a specific job at a specific company, can be realised in all countries that are looking for an effective solution to the problem.
The proposal I have just described could certainly provide a remedy for the difficulties faced by both blind people in search of a job and employment agencies. It is a good opportunity for visually impaired people to bring out their specific potentials, so widening the array of jobs at their disposal. It is an important opportunity for employers to hire people who have, up to now, worked mainly as switchboard operators, masseurs, and physiotherapists.
New more rewarding prospects, in fact, result from:
1. a customised database where supply and demand can meet;
2. tailor-made training for the available jobs;
3. lifelong training, including distance training (e-training) and self training.
To sum up, I think this is the right pathway to achieve:
1. the emancipation of visually impaired people, who can - through the carrying out of a job - escape marginalisation and feel they are useful to their families and the community;
2. better matching of supply and demand;
3. acquisition of information on abilities and skills
4. integration into vocational training of new specific, and flexible contents aimed at ensuring that visually impaired people are fit for their jobs, which they will be able to carry out in a sufficiently independent way.
5. Professional qualification and requalification of visually impaired people, which will enable them to best express their professional potentials, through new methods of training and psychological support.
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