Employing the differently abled

The Employers' Federation of Ceylon - Network on Disability organised an exhibition on December 9, 2009 to commemorate the International Disability Day which fell on December 3.

The exhibition, a full day's event was hosted at the Salon Anthurium of the Galadari Hotel, Colombo, who sponsored the venue.

Among those present at the inauguration were Director General EFC, Ravi Peiris, Labour Relations and Manpower Ministry Secretary Mahinda Madihahewa and ILO Country Office Director Tine Stearmose.

The main objective of this event was to share employment experiences of people with disabilities in the private sector organisations with the employers as well as disabled community and their families.

Working under the theme "Disability poses no limitations", the companies associated with the Employers Federation of Ceylon Network on Disability that were present at the event emphasised on the possible avenues available to the disabled community in empowering them to realise their potential.

A key feature at this exhibition was that many companies brought forth their employees who possessed disabilities to witness to and share their experiences with others in the disabled community. More than 300 disabled people and their families drawn from various parts of the country visited the exhibition and were able to gain insights on possible career avenues available to them. CEI Plastics, Polytex Garments, Nestle Lanka PLC, John Keells Holdings, Hatton National Bank PLC, Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank, and I D Lanka Ltd., were amongst the companies that were present at the exhibition to demonstrate their commitment to this cause, whilst the Employment Planning Division of the Labour Relations and Manpower Ministry was present on invitation.

Nestle Lanka PLC displayed their commitment to this cause by providing refreshing 'MAGGI Karapincha Soup' and 'NESTEA' to all present at the event.

Companies such as HNB PLC demonstrated the use of software which could aid the visually impaired in carrying on their business transactions. Job Access With Speed (JAWS) which is a screen reading software that provides audible feedback which has been designed to promote greater autonomy amongst visually impaired individuals.

Four disabled students of Singer Fashion Academy of Singer (Sri Lanka) demonstrated their skills in different disciplines of sewing. This stall attracted a large number of disabled visitors who showed a keen interest in following courses offered by Singer Fashion Academy. There were special requests from some visitors from Jaffna who were interested in following these sewing courses offered and requested to have an academy in Jaffna.

Singer Fashion Academy offers scholarships to disabled persons and plans to open an academy in Jaffna shortly. CEI Plastics Ltd which has been offering employment opportunities to a large number of disabled persons not out of sympathy but with a conviction that they are good employees had two totally visually impaired employees participating at the Exhibition.

They demonstrated the labelling of Highland ice cream container lids,and fastening of plastic handles to Akzo Nobel/ Dulux 4 litre containers and were able to give a strong message to prospective employers that disabled persons can productively contribute in the workplace.

It certainly motivated the disabled visitors, some of them tried out their hands at work carried out by the two visually impaired employees and seemed to enjoy the experience. Their work includes items supplied to multi nationals like Coca Cola, Unilevers, ICI, Elephant House, Caltex Lubricants, Swiss Cheese, Milco, Prima, Anverally, Cherubium, Lanka Canneries, Cargills Dairies etc.

John Keells Group had one of their disabled employees, attached to JayKay Marketing services as a data entry Operator who interacted with the participants and answered questions posed on being disabled and working in the corporate sector.

The Group also portrayed photographs of their other disabled employees in different workplaces to highlight the variety of opportunities available to disabled persons.

PolyTex Garments Ltd had seven disabled employees employed in their factories spread out in the regions participating at the exhibition to demonstrate and gain experience for themselves by demonstrating their skills for the betterment of other disabled persons. Most of the impaired people were very impressed to see the recognition these employees are afforded by the company and were astonished to see their talents and the opportunities available in fast moving industries such as garment manufacturing.

Standard Chartered Bank had a separate stall to explain the techniques of preparing job applications, facing interviews which was very popular with the prospective disabled job seekers and their families who visited the exhibition.

ID Lanka Ltd designed its exhibits essentially to display the actual work carried out by their disabled employees which comprises almost 5 percent of the total employee base and they continue to support the cause of productive employment for disabled persons.

The focus at the IDL stall was to give a strong message to the disabled visitors and their families that they too can be productively employed if they themselves had the will to engage in employment. The stall was manned by two of the disabled employees. One of them demonstrated an item of work in pasting labels on filled bottles whilst the other explained the opportunities that are available to a disabled person in a production facility.

This stall also had pictures to give a better perspective to viewers of disabled persons engaged in their day to day duties in the company supported by a story board of the background of each employee.

The Leonard Cheshire Disability Resource Centre (LCDRC) played a pivotal role in facilitating this event.

From the inception of the planning process, their contribution towards ensuring that each organisation catered to different identified needs of the disabled community was noteworthy.

What started out in 1999 as the Employer's Network on Disability with 10 members from the corporate sector has over the years grown to a 33 member outfit that is committed to uplift the general employability of people with disabilities.

The Network has been instrumental in organising five job fairs in the past which have led to the employment of over 250 disabled people to date. It is currently running a training program for visually impaired persons on Information Communication Technology. Commenced in August 2009 with 43 trainees it has now increased to 63 trainees.

The training is conducted by an employee of the Employers Federation of Ceylon who is a visually impaired person and has undergone extensive training in ICT both locally and internationally.

As there is a great demand for this course from visually impaired persons it is proposed to enhance the facilities to benefit a larger number of the disabled community.