Tweet
LABORED EFFORTS: FINDING JOBS LIKE "WINNING THE LOTTERY" FOR DISABLED
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
31.01.12
By Sara Khojoyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The main problem for more than 170,000 people with disabilities living
in Armenia is finding a job.
The non-governmental organizations (NGO) which actively deal with the
issue, believe that there can be considerable progress only if major
and middle-sized companies have a mandatory amount of workplaces for
the disabled; whereas the Government does not consider this to be
a solution.
In 2010, Armenia enforced the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, and now the authorities have drafted a new bill.
Arman Grigoryan, 25, who has disability of the first group (there
are three groups of disability in Armenia - the first group includes
people with the most complicated problems and the third group refers
to people whose problems are comparatively milder), has graduated
from a vocational training college; he has computer skills, he can
do translations from English and Russian into Armenian and vice versa.
Grigoryan has no work experience, and for a year he has been job
hunting.
"If a disabled person has some skills, I partly believe that he
or she will find a job, but sometimes people face discrimination,
because some employees think that if someone has disabilities, then
the disability refers to his or her mind, too," says Grigoryan,
who has cerebral palsy.
He does not expect any support from the Government, and he is not even
aware that the State Employment Service Agency of Armenia realizes
special programs for disabled people.
Artak Simonyan, deputy head of the State Employment Service Agency,
says that 117 disabled people found jobs through the "Partial
Compensation of Salary to the Employer in Case of Employing Groups
Uncompetitive in the Labor Market." The program surpassed expectations.
Still, Armenia is far behind developed countries in providing jobs
for disabled.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, as of July
1, 2011, there are 118,435 people with limited capabilities, whose
age ranges from 18 to 63, who are able to work, however only eight
percent of them - about 10,000 people have jobs now. According to the
European Disability Forum, 38 percent of the 16-34-year-old people
with disabilities work in Europe.
Armen Alaverdyan, head of Unison NGO dealing with problems of disabled
people in Armenia says that only a small part of the 10,000 working
disabled people found a job with the help of the state policy.
"Most of them used to work before, however they have become disabled
over the years because of different accidents. Of course it is good
that they have not been dismissed, however, this does not mean that
the same company is ready to hire new people with disabilities. Such
companies [which hire disabled people] are very few," Alaverdyan says.
Unison NGO has a few initiatives related to finding jobs for disabled
people: it has created a data base for job-seekers with 300 records,
a website www.jobs.disability.am, it organizes seminars, consultations
on how to write resumes and how to get prepared for interviews, etc.
Melanya Davtyan, 35, who underwent a leg surgery in 2005 and has an
artificial limb and is second group of disability, has been searching
for a job for five years, and she could finally find a job after
attending an 8-month English course in Unison.
"I am a receptionist; I answer the phone calls and the questions of our
company's clients. I have been looking for a job for quite a long time,
I used to turn to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs all the time
and tell them that I could not survive by the small disability benefit
that they gave me. And now I feel myself a full person," Davtyan says.
The disability benefit for the third group of disability is 8,000 drams
(about $20) per month, the second group - 9,000 drams (about $23),
the first group - 11,000 drams (about $28).
Alaverdyan says that even though people with limited capabilities
find jobs through their and other NGOs, and the State Employment
Service Agency, their number is quite small.
"These 100-200 people do not change the whole picture, and if we move
at such a pace, too much time will be needed to solve the problem.
Nowadays finding a job for disabled people is like winning a lottery.
And we want everybody to have this opportunity, so that they can
chose themselves whether they want to work or not," Alaverdyan says.
Unison NGO found what they believed the most efficient solution
to this problem - to define a special percentage of involvement of
disabled people in the staff of major and middle-sized companies.
"Taking our advice into consideration, the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs has included the issue of those quotas in the new draft
bill. However, later being discussed at the Government that part was
removed from the bill," Alaverdyan says.
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
31.01.12
By Sara Khojoyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The main problem for more than 170,000 people with disabilities living
in Armenia is finding a job.
The non-governmental organizations (NGO) which actively deal with the
issue, believe that there can be considerable progress only if major
and middle-sized companies have a mandatory amount of workplaces for
the disabled; whereas the Government does not consider this to be
a solution.
In 2010, Armenia enforced the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, and now the authorities have drafted a new bill.
Arman Grigoryan, 25, who has disability of the first group (there
are three groups of disability in Armenia - the first group includes
people with the most complicated problems and the third group refers
to people whose problems are comparatively milder), has graduated
from a vocational training college; he has computer skills, he can
do translations from English and Russian into Armenian and vice versa.
Grigoryan has no work experience, and for a year he has been job
hunting.
"If a disabled person has some skills, I partly believe that he
or she will find a job, but sometimes people face discrimination,
because some employees think that if someone has disabilities, then
the disability refers to his or her mind, too," says Grigoryan,
who has cerebral palsy.
He does not expect any support from the Government, and he is not even
aware that the State Employment Service Agency of Armenia realizes
special programs for disabled people.
Artak Simonyan, deputy head of the State Employment Service Agency,
says that 117 disabled people found jobs through the "Partial
Compensation of Salary to the Employer in Case of Employing Groups
Uncompetitive in the Labor Market." The program surpassed expectations.
Still, Armenia is far behind developed countries in providing jobs
for disabled.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, as of July
1, 2011, there are 118,435 people with limited capabilities, whose
age ranges from 18 to 63, who are able to work, however only eight
percent of them - about 10,000 people have jobs now. According to the
European Disability Forum, 38 percent of the 16-34-year-old people
with disabilities work in Europe.
Armen Alaverdyan, head of Unison NGO dealing with problems of disabled
people in Armenia says that only a small part of the 10,000 working
disabled people found a job with the help of the state policy.
"Most of them used to work before, however they have become disabled
over the years because of different accidents. Of course it is good
that they have not been dismissed, however, this does not mean that
the same company is ready to hire new people with disabilities. Such
companies [which hire disabled people] are very few," Alaverdyan says.
Unison NGO has a few initiatives related to finding jobs for disabled
people: it has created a data base for job-seekers with 300 records,
a website www.jobs.disability.am, it organizes seminars, consultations
on how to write resumes and how to get prepared for interviews, etc.
Melanya Davtyan, 35, who underwent a leg surgery in 2005 and has an
artificial limb and is second group of disability, has been searching
for a job for five years, and she could finally find a job after
attending an 8-month English course in Unison.
"I am a receptionist; I answer the phone calls and the questions of our
company's clients. I have been looking for a job for quite a long time,
I used to turn to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs all the time
and tell them that I could not survive by the small disability benefit
that they gave me. And now I feel myself a full person," Davtyan says.
The disability benefit for the third group of disability is 8,000 drams
(about $20) per month, the second group - 9,000 drams (about $23),
the first group - 11,000 drams (about $28).
Alaverdyan says that even though people with limited capabilities
find jobs through their and other NGOs, and the State Employment
Service Agency, their number is quite small.
"These 100-200 people do not change the whole picture, and if we move
at such a pace, too much time will be needed to solve the problem.
Nowadays finding a job for disabled people is like winning a lottery.
And we want everybody to have this opportunity, so that they can
chose themselves whether they want to work or not," Alaverdyan says.
Unison NGO found what they believed the most efficient solution
to this problem - to define a special percentage of involvement of
disabled people in the staff of major and middle-sized companies.
"Taking our advice into consideration, the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs has included the issue of those quotas in the new draft
bill. However, later being discussed at the Government that part was
removed from the bill," Alaverdyan says.