Employment is an essential pillar of inclusion of people with disabilities. On the one hand, income helps people with disabilities to become more self-determined in their lifestyle, on the other hand, people with disabilities and their abilities become more visible in society and social belonging is conveyed.

According to § 27 of the UN Disability Rights Convention, people with disabilities equally have the right to work. The States Parties, of which Austria has been a member since 2008, have committed themselves to ensuring and promoting the realisation of this right with appropriate measures and legal provisions. The latter can be found in Austria’s Disabled Persons Employment Act (BEinstG) and comprise, among other things, the obligation to employ people with disabilities under certain conditions, the prohibition of discrimination or protection against discrimination, but also the obligation of employers to take reasonable precautions and support measures for employed people with disabilities.

Support measures such as personal assistance at the workplace or the possibility of being assigned as “supported disabled person” who is entitled to preferential treatment and thus enjoys, among other things, increased protection against dismissal are promoted by the Austrian Federal Government. Also, government provides employers with financial support for barrier-free workplace design. Despite these measures, the labour market in Austria is still far from inclusive. A look at the unemployment figures for 2018 shows that only slightly more than half of those supported disabled persons are actually employed, which is well below the employment rate for the overall population. Moreover, the group of people with beneficiary status, together with those with health-related placement restrictions, accounted for 24% of all unemployed people.

While the measures described above, in accordance with the underlying conditions, are primarily aimed at the inclusion of persons with a physical or sensory disability in the labour market, there are currently few opportunities for persons with an intellectual disability or a psychological impairment to be employed in the regular labour market. Rather, they are engaged in "occupational therapy" or "skills-oriented activities" or manufacture products in "sheltered workshops". Approximately 22,000 people are currently working in these day centres and employment structures. They receive pocket money and receive statutory accident insurance. Respective the topic of greater self-determination, the sponsoring organisations that provide services for people with disabilities have recently called for a change regarding this payment issue under the slogan "wages instead of pocket money".

Digitisation is also being discussed as another major factor influencing the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour market. However, it is not only seen as an opportunity for inclusion in the labour market in the form of "assistive technologies", artificial intelligence (AI) or digitised work, but also as a risk. The digital world of work demands flexibility and employees must practice self-management and be able to meet the ever increasing demands. This can lead to stress and excessive demands, which especially excludes people with an intellectual disability or psychological impairment. Persons with disabilities are also at a disadvantage when it comes to acquiring skills in dealing with the new technologies.

In order to make the labour market more inclusive, framework conditions must be redesigned and work itself must be rethought in our achievement-oriented society.

The NPO Competence Centre has been dealing with the topic of people with disabilities in general and employment of people with disabilities in particular for more than 10 years.