This report was compiled by:

Gail Kovacs, Ceri Goodrum and Emily Morris - KMG Health Partners, UK

Sandra Rosenberger,Maria Egger - FAB Pro.Work, Austria

Viera Zahorcova and Jana Vlašičova -Inclusion, Slovakia

Sylvie Osičková, Petra Holáková, Eva Řezníčková, Kamil Vyoral, Ivana Sýkorová, Eva Dohnalová - IZAP; Jana Pobořilová - Magistrate of Zlín; Miriam Majdyšová - Labour office in Zlín, Czech Republic

Published: June 2012

Contents

Section1 Introduction

Section 2 Disability and employment within the participants’ Countries

Section 3 Learning from the Project

Section 4 Conclusion

Appendices

Section 1 - Introduction

This report was written as part of the Transition to IndependencyProject for the Grundtvig Programme, 2010-12. The participants wish to express their appreciation to the Life-Long Learning Programme – Grundtvig Learning Partnership that made the project possible.

The Project focused on learning about the ways in which disabled people gain independence and how that independence is facilitated in each of the partner Countries. Those partner Countries are:

  • Austria
  • Czech Republic
  • United Kingdom
  • Slovakia

The participating organizations (the partners) considered the challenges and strategies used in the partner Countriesand having identified areas of commonality, they considered areas of learning and areas of individual challenges.

As the focus of the Project was broad, we have putan emphasis on employment within this report. Employmentcontributes to financial independence, social independence and a sense of identity. The partners in the project believe that gaining and maintaining quality employment and being able to play an equal role in the labour market are key to ensuring that disabled people are full participants in all aspects of society. Partners defined quality employment as that which makes a good use of the individual’s skills and abilities where the individual is properly remunerated for the tasks they complete.

1.1 Visits to partner countries

In Austria, participants visited the following operations:

  • FAB the sheltered workshop at the new site in Linz
  • FAB AIB Steyr, a vocational qualification programme for young disabled persons
  • FAB Virtual Office in Linz, a vocational qualification programme for young disabled persons, who mainly work on computers

They also attended:

  • A presentation on Case Management
  • A presentation on the work of a job coach
  • A presentation and discussion about further education for its employees with disabilities at FAB
  • A discussion about supported employment
  • A discussion about learning from the project and a planning session for the final report and conference

In the CzechRepublic participants visited the following operations:

  • Integration centre IZAP – Slunečnice,
  • A special school and residential facilityfor disabled children
  • A host company where a centre member was gaining work experience
  • Two sheltered workshops

In the UK participants visited the following operations:

  • A university providing vocational rehabilitation training
  • Two sheltered workshops, one of which was developing a social enterprise approach for its operations
  • A welfare to work recruitment and training facility
  • A school for children with special educational needs
  • A ‘clubhouse’ for people with mental health issues providing a range of training, employment related activities and other support

They also attended talks from a number of practitioners providing information about support available for disabled people in all aspects of daily life, the history of supported employment in the UK and job coaching.

Two international meetings were held in Slovakia. The first focused on the introduction of the partners and detailed planning for the project and the second the final conference of the project. During the first meeting the partners had the chance to meet and talk with some of the disabled people employed in the Café Radnička, an operation which exists to provide employment and training for disabled people in Bratislava and to see the film presenting the living conditions of people with disabilities in residential social care facilities in Slovakia.

1.2 Partner Organizations

The project was made up of four partner organizations.

1.2.1 Austria – FAB Pro.Work

FAB Pro.Work was founded in 1966 inLinz, Upper Austria under the name “Sheltered Workshops”. At that time, FAB started a sheltered workshop with only 6 people with disabilities, funded by the regional government.

During the last 45 years FAB has grown into a fairly large social company. Nowadays FAB offers permanent workplaces in sheltered workshops for 440 people with disabilities who cannot find permanent or temporary jobs on the mainstream labour market. The sheltered workplaces are provided for people who suffer from at least 50% reduction in their earning capacity because of their disability, have finished compulsory school and have the ability to carry out permanent productive work in our sheltered workshops. Moreover there are 50 places in supported employment, which means that the persons with disabilities work in companies on the mainstream labour market whilst being employed with FAB.

All clients have contracts of employment with FAB with full coverage (pension, health, accident, unemployment insurance), but there is a special wage scheme (lower wages than in the country’s collective treaty) determined by the regional government. The sheltered workshops work for mainstream companies within the regional economy in the fields of assembly, packaging, metalworking, woodworking, mail order and digital printing. FAB Pro.Work is certified according to ISO 9001:2008.

Furthermore there are two vocational integration schemes of 3 years duration. One is the Virtual Office, which trains 24 young persons with severe impairment of their motor skills in the field of electronic data processing. The aim is to improve personal and professional skills and competencies and to place them on the open labour market, which is often a problem because of their special needs in daily life.

The other scheme is the AIB, which offers 16 places for young persons with disabilities. The aim is to improve personal and professional skills in order to find a suitable, permanent workplace or an apprenticeship on the open labour market. The clients work, as often as possible, in companies on the open labour market. They have the opportunity to try out different types of work. The participants gain social and job-related skills as well as every-day-life skills.

The AIB’s success rate is very high (95%).Many participants do not need the whole 3 years to find a job on the open labour market; they can leave earlier. Those who cannot be placed on the open labour market (approximately 10%) get a work place in sheltered workshops or organisations that offer skill-orientedactivities. AIB also offers 6 places in an assisted flat-sharing community where young persons learn to live independently while participating in the AIB training measure.

For more information on FAB programmes and services, please visit our website at or email us at

1.2.2 Czech Republic - IZAP

The Civic Association was founded in 1992 by two educators from the special school in Zlín. The association was set up in order to offer valuable and alternative ways for children living in social care institutions, children's homes and families to spend time.

In 2001, IZAP expanded its activities to include sheltered and training workshops. The project was called the "Sunflower Non-traditional Centre ". A coffee shop was opened for Zlín's citizens with a bar and large garden.The target market for this is young families with children with the service provided by persons with learningdisabilities. Later, IZAP developed capacity for the facility, providing education for its employees and expanding its services to include hairdressing, cosmetics and pedicures.

2007 was an important milestone, because registration took place for Social Services provision, including social-therapeutic workshops, social rehabilitation and day services centres.

The name "Sunflower Non-traditional Centre" had to change for registration purposes to the "Integrated Centre Sunflower". In 2007, we also opened a training and sheltered workshop,producingsoap.

SinceJanuary 1, 2010, IZAP has only one registered social service - the Daily Services Centre. This social service prepares adults with learning disabilities for an independent life with an emphasis on employment and household tasks. Education, cultural, sports and freetime activities also play a vital role in the Daily Services Centre programme. The Daily Services Centre co-operates closely with the protected workshops of Slunečnice, where users of social services have the opportunity, after preparation, to gain employment and to move towards the same day-to-day life their peers enjoy.

Today, IZAP runs eleven protected workshops, where it employs persons with learning disabilities or individuals with multiple disabilities. Since 2009, IZAP has worked with the voluntary organisation ADRA, whose trained volunteers take part in the free time, cultural, sports and educational activities of the Daily Services Centre. IZAP also started working with the voluntary organisation SAMARI in2010.

Since May 2010, IZAP has implemented two projects financed by ESF funds. Thanks to the project Pyramid, users and employees with disabilities can engage in a 5-semester education program. The Pyramid project strives to develop skills needed to gain and hold down a job. The second project entitled Professional Fitness is primarily geared towards students of special and practical schools (Lazy and Klečůvka). The project helps young people with learning disabilities transition from school to the job market. The aim of the project is to create two workplaces in Sunflower's protected workshops.

Mission and Vision

The Association was founded to support the integration of disadvantaged citizens, mainly children and young adults with learning disabilities or multiple disabilities. The mission of the civic association IZAP is to create opportunities for young adults with learning disabilities, or with associated disadvantages including visual, hearing, physical, or psychological disabilities to obtain further education, employment and social inclusion, with the ultimate goal for them to live the same day-to-day life as their peers.

The association’s activities focus on providing social services, cultural and social activities and supporting the development of the individual and society.The association also supports a healthy lifestyle, and public and ecological benefitevents. The association also operatessheltered and training workshops and protected job positions.

For more information on IZAPprograms and services, please visit our website at or email us at

1.2.3 UK – KMG Health Partners

KMG Health Partners is an independent management, training and vocational services firm that provides integrated, best practice employment solutions across the UK, Europe, and Canada. KMG is committed to helping people with disabilities and disadvantages stay in work or, where necessary, find new employment.

Training services – the NIDMAR program

The National Institute of Disability Management and Research (NIDMAR) has developed an internationally recognised education programme in the field of Return to Work Co-ordination and Disability Management. KMG Health Partners is the sole provider licensed to deliver NIDMAR training throughout the UK to individuals and organisations who wish to:

  • Develop knowledge and skills in absence management, job retention and return to work. Study units include information on the development of return to work plans, workplace modifications, labour relations, rehabilitation, disability-related legislation, program development and evaluation.
  • Prepare for certification as a Disability Management Professional or Return to Work Co-ordinator (internationally recognised credentials in the vocational rehabilitation field).
  • Meet Standards of Practice and gain Continuous Professional Development credits

Placement Services

KMG Health Partners provides a placement service to UK organisations seeking vocational professionals. Options include part time or full time placements with service delivery to a range of client groups in various locations across the UK.

Management Services

KMG Health Partners provides a range of consulting services and support to our customers, including but not limited to setting and monitoring standards, developing internal policies and procedures, recruiting and training staff, providing quality assurance programmes, developing new service / business, and assisting with proposals. KMG works with government, insurers, employers, unions, and occupational health companies to facilitate and support their vocational rehabilitation initiatives.

For more information on KMG Health Partners programmes and services, please visit our website at or email us at .

1.2.4 Slovakia - Inclusion

Inclusion is a non-governmental organization dedicated to creating inclusion for people with physical and mental disabilities in Slovakia. It focuses on the areas of independent living, social inclusion and employment, policy development andensuring that structures are developed to facilitate the active participation of disabled people in society.

Inclusion works with a broad client group in this endeavor, viz., disabled people themselves, long-term unemployed persons, families of the clients, professionals and Agencies for supported employment working with disabled people, institutions, employers and governmental representatives. Inclusion aims to build bridges between these client groups to create an integrated support structure that enables active participation by disabled people in all aspects of life.

In order to achieve this goal, Inclusion provides a range of services: advice and counseling, training, lobbying for inclusive legislation, service development, liaison with employers and the development of models of good practice in supported employment. In addition,Inclusion has delivered a range of projects with a number of Slovak and foreign partners.

Inclusion set up several sheltered workshops:

Radnicka, a coffee shop with disabled waiters in order to promote awareness of equal opportunities for disabled people in the labour market. Radnicka also serves as a retail outlet for handcrafts made by disabled people in sheltered workshops. Inclusion is a provider of and centre for social and vocational rehabilitation with the aim to move disabled persons and persons with various disadvantages in the labourmarket to a more inclusive environment.

Supported Circlecomprises a sheltered workshop and integration and vocational rehabilitation centre for the young people who are not able to find a job in the common society. Professionals in this centre support persons with disabilities to achieve skills and abilities for new jobs and social independence.

Radnička Market is a high-profile market organised by Inclusion that encourages sheltered workshops and social care institutions to demonstrate the working possibilities of the clients and workers with disability by the presentation of the products and services.

The role of OZ Inkluzia in the project Transition To Independence is to coordinate the partnership activities through:

• Communication with all involved partners

• Communication with learners involved on the local level

• Financial and technical management of the project

• Coordinating the products of this partnership

• Securing communication of project outcomes to relevant stakeholders and media

Inclusion can be contacted at, Heydukova 25, 811 08 Bratislava

Tel/fax: 00421 2 52 73 36 76

Section 2 Disability and employment within the participants’ countries

2.1 Austria

2.1.1 Statistics

Austria is a relatively small country with about 8.4 million inhabitants. According to the definition of the EU-SILC there are 630,000 people who are disabled in a narrower sense (their disability has a severe impact on daily life for more than 6 months). About 1 million people between the ages of 16-64 are disabled in the broader sense. Appendix 1 shows further statistics.

Against the general trend towards a decrease in unemployment, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities is still on the increase. In 2006 5.9% of people with long term impairments (6.5% female, 5.4% male) were unemployed compared to 3.8% of those without impairments. The employment rate of people with impairments was 58.5% (54.4% female; 70.2% male) compared to 77.8% of those without impairment (61.9% female; 85.7% male). In May 2010 the percentage of persons with disabilities among the total of unemployed people amounted to 15.03%. A high number of persons with disabilities are not covered in unemployment statistics – i.e. those who are considered unable to work and those who work in segregated institutions and workshops.

2.1.2 Legislation

In Austria legislation is divided in two parts. There is the federal legislation (e.g., Federal Act on Equal Treatment, Federal Act on Equal Treatment of People with Disabilities, Federal Act on the Recruitment and Employment of People with Disabilities) and every region (Austria has 9 regions) has its own legislation concerning disability issues (e.g., Act on Equal Opportunities in Upper Austria).

2.1.2.1 Federal Legislation

There are multiple variations between federal and regional laws regarding people with disabilities, having different targets and without a general definition of disability. In Upper Austria, where the project partner FAB works in the field of Supported Employment and Sheltered Workshops people with disability are defined as:

(1) Persons with impairments are those who, due to the failure of important functions as a result of physical, mental, intellectual or multiple (not predominantly age-related) impairments, are lastingly and significantly disabled in an important social context such as in connection with their upbringing, their vocational education and training, their personal development and in their gainful employment as well as in their integration into society. They can also be persons who can be expected to suffer from such impairments in the foreseeable future, particularly in the case of small children.

(2) Persons are also considered to have physical impairments if they have impaired sight or hearing, are without speechorhavesignificantdisorders in sensory processing who thus have considerable disabilities in terms of communication and orientation, in as far as this does not relate to development disorders with regard to learning skills at school.

Besides the Federal Equal Treatment Legislation in line with similar provisions in and across the EU concerning discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, gender, there are special federal regulations for people with disabilities. All physical, intellectual, mental and sensory disabilities are covered by the discrimination prohibition, the severity of the impairment not being relevant.