International findings on Disability Management and Workplace Integration

There is a new book about disability and work. The book presents the results of a world research. It wants to show how people with disabilities can get the support they need to have a decent work and life.

A new publication on Disability Management has been recently launched offering guidance on how to assist people with disabilities to enter or return to the workplace. Edited by Thomas Geisen, University of Applied Sciences, Northwestern Switzerland, and Henry Harder, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada, “Disability Management and Workplace Integration” was launched in December 2011. As explained in the book, considering that work is an essential element of our lives and that individuals, society, employers and governments value work and want all the citizens gainfully employed, is the core of disability management.

In reality, people with disabilities have difficulty in accessing or maintaining work. Disability management is aiming at offering people with any kind of disability the support they need to have a decent life and a gainful job. At the same time disability management proposes that these issues should be considered in advance and policies to address them should be developed beforehand.

Based on the findings of international research, among other issues, the book sheds light on the use of workplace disability management as an instrument for human resources and organisational development, the role of workplace social support in disability management, and features examples of disability management in various countries in and outside Europe.

More information about the book and its authors is available here.

IE's annual conference on work opportunities

The right to work as all the other citizens is a crucial condition for the full inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in society. This year, Inclusion Europe's annual conference “Europe in Action” will be devoted to new work and employment opportunities for European citizens with intellectual disabilities. The conference will take place in Brussels on 31 May - 2 June 2012, bringing together self-advocates, family members, professionals and their organizations from all over Europe. More information is available here.