One of the flagship initiatives under the European Commission’s European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 is the Disability Employment Package. The Package supports Member States in ensuring that persons with disabilities, including deaf people, enjoy social inclusion and economic autonomy through employment. Importantly, it aligns with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The Package contains several deliverables which, through consultation with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in a dedicated subgroup, have now been achieved. EUD provided feedback to a number of these deliverables in order to ensure the deaf perspective was represented, including the following:
- The PES Toolkit provides a practical guide, with concrete examples, for how Public Employment Services (PES) can promote the participation of persons with disabilities, including deaf people, in the labour market. The objective of the toolkit is to provide PES with information and advice on strategies and practices in six areas: internal policies aimed at PES workers, services, active labour market measures, reasonable accommodation, outreach, partnership. The toolkit also highlights the approximate number of sign language users in the EU and the lack of data on their employment.
- The Toolkit includes an example of a deaf-inclusive service in Poland – a Regional Labour Office in Warsaw provides services supporting communication of deaf or hard of hearing people (in accordance with the act on sign language and other means of communication). It also includes a best practice example of a service in Germany called “My Video Appointment” which provides virtual employment counselling and offers these sessions to be interpreted into the national sign language.
- To promote hiring perspectives through affirmative action and combat stereotypes which can have a positive impact in the employment of deaf persons across EU Member States.
- One example of a positive action is included from the deaf perspective – Service assisting with job search for deaf or hard of hearing people in Wallonia – region of Belgium.
- These guidelines provide information, practical examples and references to help employers meet the requirement of providing reasonable accommodation.
- The obligation for employers to provide reasonable accommodation to employers is a legal obligation found in the EU Employment Equality Directive. All EU Member States have national legislation which implements the reasonable accommodation obligation found in the Directive: Article 5 of the EED, explicitly makes provision of reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities an obligation, stating that in order to “guarantee compliance with the principle of equal treatment in relation to persons with disabilities, reasonable accommodation shall be provided.”
- To achieve this, from the deaf perspective, the Guidelines include the example of promoting accessible communication via national sign language interpreters in the workplace. Furthermore, the guidelines also mention that closed captioning does not equate to providing full accessibility to deaf people in the workplace but rather only national sign language interpretation can do so. The guidelines recognise that full accessibility can only be achieved for deaf people within and accessing the open labour market via national sign language.
- The Illustrative examples include a deaf-specific example – the provision of professional and accredited national sign language interpreters for deaf employees to fulfil their political mandates.
- This webinar provides a comprehensive overview of the Package.
- Cedefop, together with its CareersNet partners in EU Member States and beyond, has collected examples of lifelong guidance policies and practices that support the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities. This briefing note showcases some of these initiatives in EU Member States and beyond, and presents policy pointers for further action.
Finally, the Commission will also produce deliverables on the following areas under the Package:
- Retaining persons with disabilities in employment: preventing disabilities associated with chronic diseases.
- Securing vocational rehabilitation schemes in case of sickness or accidents.
- Exploring quality jobs in sheltered employment and pathways to the open labour market.
