Inclusion of Disabled in Open Labour Market IDOL
Psychological Support
It has been observed that disabled people are one of the most socially excluded groups. This highlighted the need for innovative training regarding effective movement around the labour market and increased awareness in the parents of disabled people. Consequence-heavy behaviour patterns are cited as the main reason behind this observation, and make disabled people passive consumers of social resources. In order to activate the disabled community facilitate movement in the open labour market, it is necessary to boost occupational qualifications as well as equip them with social skills and confident and assertive competences.
In order to counteract the overprotective attitudes of parents of disabled people, the training will target those with negative attitudes that may affect disabled people.
The training will take account of any specific needs resulting from a disability.
The result of the first training module (which targets disabled people looking for a job) will be better interpersonal skills that will be useful in their search for a job. A major emphasis will be placed on the development of self-presentation and interpersonal skills, in particular verbal and non-verbal communication. The participants will work on non-verbal messages and their ability to interpret them, creating one's image and sensitising themselves to any mistakes made when communicating. Other ways of sending verbal messages and their meanings will also be covered.
The professional approach to contact with the employer requires comprehensive preparation. Therefore the training will take account of defining preferences related to the physical working environment, work's emotional climate, the conditions of work organisation, and defining one's occupational talents.
The participants' work will focus on discovering strengths and weaknesses of their professional operation, and learning how to find out information on work places, in particular those for disabled persons. The training will be supplemented by practical skills related to producing application-type documents and principles of holding an effective job interview.
The result of the second training module (which targets parents and carers of disabled people) will be their raised awareness of attitudes towards disability and their consequences. Parents and carers of disabled people will increase their knowledge of contemporary models of disability. The training hopes to change the stereotype-driven thinking on disability as a factor making it impossible to undertake salaried jobs.
The training will include some theory, related to motivation, effective motivation methods and the importance of salaried work in how people function. The training participants will learn the theory of hierarchy of needs, motivation theory as well as psychological consequences of being stuck in difficult situations. They will learn of the barriers impeding full social functioning of disabled persons. Participants will also get to know possibilities for compensating for obstacles using technical, architectural or organisational solutions, and alternative forms of employment, friendly to disabled people.
A long-term goal of training will be the re-building of parental attitudes towards disabled children, developing positive attitudes and supporting active stances of disabled people.
The training participants will also gain an insight into their status as a parent or carer of a disabled person.
Another important area covered in the training will be diagnosing parental attitudes and raising awareness of the consequences of particular types of attitudes. A result of this will be personal development; making rigid attitudes more flexible, moving towards openness to various ways of job searching by disabled people, increasing objectivity regarding the limitations of and opportunities for disabled people in the labour market.
Another vital element of the training is expanding the knowledge of the contemporary model of disability. A result of this is treating disabled people as individuals able to fully function socially using assistive technologies rather than as passive consumers of social aid. Another result of the training will be making the participants aware of the fact that a disabled person is an autonomous individual, able to direct his/her own life and define his/her life priorities. Awareness will also be raised of the impact of the behaviour of a parent or carer on a disabled person, and their ability to rationally define opportunities and risks related to undertaking employment by a disabled person.