Survey results of learners from Bulgaria

Disability Employment is a national priority calling special political and public attention and requiring the highest degree of policy coordination. The inclusion of this vulnerable group in the labor market is one of the main tools for the integration of persons with disabilities in all spheres of public life. Persons with disabilities from Bulgaria as well as from other countries have the same rights and obligations as all other people around the world.

However, they face a wide range of obstacles and barriers which inhibit the transition from school to employment: Low-level vocational qualifications Employers’ negative attitude Inaccessible workplaces Lack of appropriate working environment Poor public awareness Bureaucratic obstacles preventing disability employment Lack of a register

Low-level vocational qualifications Most people of this target group are characterized as lacking vocational qualifications. Formal vocational training of students with disabilities is performed extensively in existing special schools or in a small number of special education centres for children with vision and hearing loss, where the career choice is very limited. Persons with permanent disability are vocationally retrained mainly in specialized enterprises and cooperatives, where they work. This retraining usually does not match the labor market requirements. The Employment Promotion Act (EPA) provides grants for vocational training and retraining of employees, but the employers are generally reluctant to make use of this opportunity; they do it only if the employee meets their requirements and they intend to hold him or her for a long time.

Employers’ negative attitude Labour Offices database on labour statistics coming to the Agency for People with Disabilities according to Article 27 of the Law on the Integration of People with Disabilities (LIPD) confirms that there are job vacancies available for persons with disabilities, but the employers are reluctant to employ them. According to Labour Offices database these job vacancies are usually taken by people without disabilities, and persons with disabilities applying for them are supposed to satisfy impossible requirements. Unfortunately, this process is being intensified in the context of the current economic crisis.

Inaccessible workplaces Accessibility is one of the biggest problems for persons with disabilities and a satisfactory solution for this issue has not been found yet. There are good accessibility standard regulations and the Law on Spatial Planning establishes requirements for building accessible environment. The specific requirements for accessible environment are introduced by a number of regulations on technical design standards. There are regulatory documents on building accessible urban environment, traffic signal regulation, putting traffic lights at road intersections located on accessible routes, supporting green traffic light by an acoustic signal. It is clear from the above that there is good legislation designed to make disabled people’s workplace and home as well as public buildings accessible to them, but the lack of financial resources, positive public attitude and active control over the implementation of the requirements prevent the local authorities, regional councils and government agencies from putting into practice these regulations. The degree of accessibility to public buildings is still insufficient. Public service accessibility of persons with disability is difficult in nearly 50% of cases, which hinders their full integration into society. Accessibility is provided easier in the economically developed regions. Overall policy for integration of people with disabilities, in particular the provision of accessible built environment, is applied and implemented by NGOs under considerable pressure but those who have to apply this policy and invest significant resources for its carrying out have not accepted it as a necessity yet.

Lack of appropriate working environment There is a lack of appropriate working environment tailored to the specific needs of persons with disabilities. One of the reasons for the low labour-market participation rate of disabled people is the reluctance of employers to make additional expenditure to ensure appropriate working environment tailored to the capabilities of these individuals. Currently, only the Law on the Integration of People with Disabilities and the Implementing Rules of the LIPD provide funding measures for employers of ordinary and specialized enterprises to adapt workplaces for employees with disabilities.

Poor public awareness An important prerequisite for successful social inclusion of people with specific abilities is public attitude change towards them. Society is still dominated by misconceptions, pity, indifference and negativity. Thus, it becomes necessary to implement long-term campaigns to overcome these 'subjective' barriers and to change stereotypes in the way the persons with disabilities are presented and perceived. This approach is very important because it gives us the opportunity of presenting people with disabilities as bearers of positive roles and equal citizens in a democratic society. The campaign to change public attitudes should go hand in hand with all issues of disability solutions.

Bureaucratic obstacles preventing disability employment Most of employers from the country are concerned about the enormous amount of paperwork that must be done when a person with a disability is employed, and therefore they prefer simply not to do this. It is believed that people with disabilities are not able to manage with their work responsibilities. In practice it turns out that even the state preferences do not change things.

Lack of a register One of the reasons not to employ people with disabilities is the lack of a register. Nobody knows what the disadvantaged person’s qualifications are and where he or she lives.

Thank you for your attention!