OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIAL INCLUSION OF YOUTHS WITH DISABILITIES AND SOCIAL DISADVA

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OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIAL
INCLUSION OF YOUTHS WITH DISABILITIES AND SOCIAL
DISADVANTAGE

• Petya Mincheva, HMSCC Rousse

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TARGET GROUP

• A group of youths with learning disabilities on
  age 15 -18, graduating a special vocational
  training programme in cooking in Professional
  School for Industrial Technologies in Ruse,
  Bulgaria.
• They have mainly mild and moderate learning
  disabilities usually combined with social
  disadvantage. Some of them are from gypsy
  minority, some are in living in orphanage, most
  of them are from poor families.

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BACKGROUND

• Unemployment is a serious issue for Bulgarian
  population (11 of the active pupolation).
• The problem is even more serious for young people
  (39).
• Concerning people with learning disabilities,
  only 13 are employed (NSI, 2005).They face
  unemployment as one of many other barriers that
  hinder their participation in community
  activities and better quality of life.

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WHY PROVIDING SUPPORT?

• Local Employment Agency (LEA) states that the
  employers are not interested in hiring people
  with disabilities although the benefits.
• LEA can not offer any further information about
  the job seekers with disabilities. The only
  requirement as a document is their certificate.
  Medical documentation contains information only
  about the disability, but not their abilities.

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WHY THIS SCHOOL?

• This is the only one in the Northen part in
  Bulgaria which provides vocational training for
  pupils with learning disabilities in the
  environment of their healthy peers.
• They have experience in project work(2003 2004,
  Leonardo programme).
• The teachers are very motivated to support their
  pupils after graduation.
• The pupils feel insecure and not confident in
  their abilities.

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OTHER POSSIBLE PARTNERS?

• Local Employment Agency
• Parents
• The staff of the orphanage
• Municipality
• Employers

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Occupational needs

• Opportunities for paid employment
• Social relations
• Self-esteem, recognition and self-determination
• The needs were identified through the initial
  interviews with
• The children
• The teachers
• The officers from the LEA

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WHY Occupational therapy?

• Client centered approach
• Work is considered as meaningful occupation,
  where the OTs are experts
• The project is focused on facilitating the job
  matching process, which requires information
  about job seekers with disabilities to determine
  experience, skills, interests and general
  capacity (Heron, 2005)

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Purpose of the project

• The aim of the project is to contribute to social
  inclusion and accessibility of young persons with
  learning disabilities in the work area, which is
  one of the priorities of the European policies
  concerning persons with disabilities (Action plan
  EC, 2003).
• An occupational therapy approach for facilitating
  employment opportunities at micro level is
  suggested by developing vocational profiles of
  the graduates, which will be used as a part of
  their application documentation.

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OBJECTIVES TO BE ACHIEVED (1)

• to assess the occupational abilities and
  interests of a group of at least 15 graduates of
  the vocational training programme
• to develop vocational profiles (VP) for them
  based on their occupational assessment by the end
  of the school year
• to enhance students self-determination,
  responsibility and control over the process of
  getting, learning and keeping a job (Beyer et al,
  2004) by raising awareness of their own
  employment interests and capacity
• to enhance teachers knowledge about the skills
  and abilities of the students

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OBJECTIVES TO BE ACHIEVED (2)

• to facilitate the LEA in identifying suitable
  jobs for at least 15 job seekers with learning
  disabilities by providing individual vocational
  profiles as a part of their application papers
• to promote occupational therapy by making OT
  achievements visible in the target groups
• to build collaborative partnership with all
  stakeholders involved in the project

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Methods and Materials (1)

• Collecting information individually and/or in
  focus groups through interviews, checklists and
  observations.
• Interviews to be conducted with the students,
  teachers, officers from LEA and family members.
• Questionnaires clear, simple and short
  checklists to be used. Some of them will be
  filled by the teachers, and others with the
  students.
• Observation of kitchen training OT students to
  attend practical classes and observe the
  students.

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Methods and Materials (2)

• MOHO (Kielhofner G., 1995) and Job analysis
  (Heron R, 2005) to be used as a theoretical
  foundation for developing the template of the
  vocational profile.
• Discussions individually and in focus groups to
  validate the template and the profiles.
• Evaluation will be based mainly on the
  satisfaction level of the target groups
  manifested at the meetings.

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WORK PLAN
15
WORK PLAN
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Indicators of Change and Outcomes

• 15 interviews recorded,
• 3 checklists translated and elaborated
• 45 questionnaires completed
• Template of a Vocational Profile
• Vocational profiles of 15 graduates drafted,
  confirmed, validated, printed in 3 copies.
• Meetings with teachers conducted
• Meeting in Employment Agency conducted
• Meeting with employers conducted
• 2 articles written

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SUSTAINABILITY / FUTURE?

• The aim of vocational profiling is to collect
  enough information for each person with a
  learning disability to establish their work
  preferences and their skills, so that staff who
  find jobs can look for jobs that match the person
  (Beyer S. et all, 2004). It is the first step
  from the six step approach for supported
  employment (EASPD,2004). For further
  sustainability of the project should proceed the
  next steps of the approach.
• To approach the employers and to evaluate the
  need and content of the profiles
• To approach other professional schools where
  pupils with different interests could be accepted
• To involve more students and other partners in
  the process

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Refernces

• Action plan, EC, 2003
• BAPID, Human rights for persons with intellectual
  disabilities report for Bulgaria
  http//bapid.com
• CBR a strategy for rehabilitiation,
  equalization of opportunities, poverty reduction
  and social exclusion of people with disabilities,
  ILO, UNESCO, WHO, Joint Position Paper2004.
• EASPD (2004). From disability to ability A
  pathway to equal employment of people with
  intellectual disabilitieswww.start-labor.org
• Beyer S., Hedebouw G., Samoy E. (2004). LABOr
  Project reflections on good practice in
  vocational training and employment for people
  with learning disabilities www.start-labor.org
• Hart D., Zimbrich K., Ghiloni C. (2001).
  Interagency partnership and funding Individual
  supportsfor youth with significant disabilities
  as they move into postsecondary education and
  employment options,Journal of Vocational
  Rehabilitation, 16, 145-154.
• Heron R., 2005, Job and Work Analysis Guidelines
  on identifying jobs for persons withdisabilities,
  ILO, ISBN 92-2-117864-1 http//digitalcommons.ilr.
  cornell.edu/gladnetcollect/163
• Kielhofner G., 1995. A Model of Human Occupation.
  Theory and Application. William Wilkins, MA,
  USA, ISBN 0-683-04601-2.
• Kirsh B., 2000, Work 14, ISSN 1051-9815, IOS
  Press109-122
• Meir E., Hasson R. 1982. Congruence between
  personality type and environment type as a
  predictor of stay in an environment, Journal of
  Vocational Behaviour, 21309-317.
• Mount M., Muchinsky P. 1978. Person-environment
  congruence and employee job-satisfactionA test
  of Hollands theory, Journal of Vocational
  Behaviour, 1384-100.
• ORelly C., Chatman J., Caldwell D. (1991).
  People and organizational culture a
  profile-comparison approach to assessing
  person-organization fit, Academy of management
  journal 34, 487-516.