The disabled lament limited employment
The disabled lament limited employment
JAKARTA (JP): Government and society have a long way to go
toward constructively employing the disabled, an association of
the disabled said yesterday.
Otje Soedioto, secretary-general of Persatuan Penyandang Cacat
Indonesia (the Indonesia Disabled Peoples' Association), lamented
that although the government says it wants to empower the
disabled, regulations stand in the way of actually doing so.
Most employers, for example, require that prospective workers
be able to read and write "normally" -- but this conception of
"normal" excludes Braille reading and writing skills. Other
stipulations require that job seekers be "physically and mentally
healthy".
"We (disabled people) have to contend with these unfair
regulations," said Otje, who has been blind since infancy.
Otje is also a manager of the newly opened ProEm-Personnel
Indonesia, the local representative of PE Personnel, an
Australian non-governmental organization which trains and
supports the disabled in the workplace.
"We have a long way to go before disabled people are not
discriminated against," he said at ProEm's roll-out press
conference.
Otje acknowledged President Soeharto's appeal to the
government and community Monday to empower deaf people by
assisting them in finding gainful employment and becoming more
productive citizens as a tentative first step.
"Unfortunately, the appeal is not yet well-understood by
officials at lower levels," he said.
According to 1995 government statistics, Indonesia has 5.9
million disabled people, or 3.1 percent of the population.
Indonesia seeks to provide 60 percent of its disabled citizens
with equal opportunity employment by 2002.
Otje criticized companies that refuse to employ disabled
people. "How can disabled people work? It's already difficult to
enter anyway," Otje said.
However, he commended companies which employ disabled people,
including Indosiar television station and McDonald's.
But it is not only business that needs to work harder to
employ the disabled. Otje said the field of politics needs to
fight discrimination and open its doors to the disabled.
"I'm the victim myself, I failed to become a legislator
because of my handicap. It's not fair, we vote and we don't have
our representatives," Otje said.
PE Personnel chief executive Greg Lewis said that employing a
person with disability is a good business decision, not an act of
charity.
Disabled people that have been placed by his organization in
various industries, Lewis said, take less time off, are more
reliable, work longer and are every bit as productive as normal
people.
"What we're offering to employers makes good business sense.
It just so happens the person has disabilities," said Lewis, who
added that companies can improve their image by employing the
disabled.
PE Personnel has placed more than 750 people with various
disabilities in jobs. (ste)