New White Paper on Work and Disability

All people should have equal chances to work. However, people with intellectual disabilities often have less chance to get a job than other citizens. Unapei is an organisation working for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities in France. They made a document about work and disability. The document looks for ways to make sure that people with intellectual disabilities have the chance to work as everybody else.

Unapei has recently published a White Paper on the right to work of persons with disabilities. The right to work is a fundamental right for all people regardless of disability. Nevertheless, in practice it is often difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to exercise this right, depriving them of the chance to make their own living, live independently and be actively included in the community.

In these terms, trying to find ways to guarantee and develop the right of people with intellectual disabilities to work as a key element and a condition of exercising their citizenship to the full is of utmost importance. And this is what the newly published White Paper of Unapei is aiming at.

Under the title Work and disability: a multiform equation (in French: Travail & handicap: une équation multiforme), this publication draws the picture concerning the employment opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. At the same time, it recommends the principles and the actions that must be followed in order to assure the right and equal chances of people with intellectual disabilities to have a job.

In times of economic crisis, such publications can prove to be a useful tool to analyse the current situation, find what improvements can be made but also mobilise decision makers to invest in employment opportunities for all citizens, including people with intellectual disabilities, as a way to come out of the crisis.

More information about the Unapei’s White Paper is available (in French) in its website.

To order the White Paper, you can click here.