A person with a disability means a person who has a barrier of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment that prevents him from participating efficiently in a society like others. So many people live with some form of disability. Is this a disability? Is it not? We never consider certain people as persons with disabilities. They are just differently-abled people and obviously should be considered when recruiting people with disabilities.
So many studies show that people with disabilities are assets to their organisations and bring gains beyond simply filling a job. These kinds of people need empowerment. This article is trying to explain the importance of economic empowerment to differently-abled persons.
If you appear to be physically well, you may be unaware of the severe prejudice that individuals with disabilities face daily in all aspects of life. That is why they need to be empowered. The majority of people with disabilities are jobless, and they are frequently neglected from job opportunities even when they meet all of the essential qualifications. They have no consistent source of income and must rely on the generosity of family members, well-wishers, and charitable organisations to make ends meet.
Lack of employment, acquiring a job, retaining work, receiving adequate remuneration, educational qualification, inaccessible surroundings, and transportation systems are all hurdles that this set of people face. The barriers set by the society hamper their ability to be involved effectively in economic activities. If we give them the right opportunity, they have enormous potential that may be tapped and exploited for community development. The empowerment would be attained by providing educational and financial openings. However, this is done only with the support of the government, community members, the labour market and the disabled persons themselves.
Table of Contents
PROVIDING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Education is a powerful tool for persons with disabilities to gain economic security. Through educational programmes, they can gain knowledge and skills needed to carry out economic activities for personal and community development. Education for empowerment should start from preschool to adulthood with training to overcome their disabilities. Early pre-vocational skills training boosts self-assurance, self-esteem, and perfection, to better task performance in the future. Education-based empowerment is never achieved just by teaching them alone. It is also necessary to bring them to mingle in society. Increased support for economic integration is needed, and realistic and result-based strategies need a disabled person to be empowered successfully.
PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINANCIAL RESOURCE
A person with disabilities who has completed professional training and cannot get a suitable position makes no sense.
So for helping them, we must establish workshops or appropriate income-generation activities to gain a better life. They also need technical support from community-based rehabilitation programmes to succeed with their income-generation activities.
PROVIDING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Many of them are highly educated and have excellent ideas. Yet, due to their handicap, they are never getting the opportunity to express themselves. In Australia, there are so many welfare societies working to create job opportunities for them. And also, there are so many online platforms available to link companies and these kinds of persons. Recruiting people with disabilities helps increase the speed of economic empowerment of these kinds of people. Persons with disabilities get the chance to be a leader in a team, allowing them to grow and use their initiative in carrying out their commitments. And recruiting them is a solution to avoid dependency on others. Self-employment is also a powerful tool for economic empowerment. Because these people take the initiative, and also they become in charge of their firm and administration. That changes the mindset of the society towards these kinds of people and the scenario of treating them as second rate citizens.