Disability and work, meeting with the Undersecretary for Welfare

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Published by Dario Dongo on 24 July 2020

Disability and work

The proposals reform of Law 68/1999 (rules for the right to work of the disabled) primarily envisage a classification of disabled people into two categories, based on the degree of disability recognized by the Inps forensic commission:

- ordinary disability (from 46% to 74%) e

- severe disability (from 75% to 100%).

The severely disabled today they tend to be excluded from the labor market. In particular when they are not self-sufficient (e.g. in the case of tetraplegia, or in advanced stages of multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson's), due to the need for a personal assistant whose presence in the workplace involves bureaucratic burdens and effectively insurmountable costs. Although many of them are potentially able to carry out an appreciable work activity.

Their insertion work is in any case valuable, also to promote their social inclusion. It is therefore necessary:

- extend their extra-curricular internship rights (see point 2),

- guarantee the right to smart working (see point 3) e

- provide for the mandatory hiring of at least 1 severely disabled person for every 3 disabled people who are hired. With tax and social security bonuses,

- to introduce a reserved quota of jobs for severely disabled people in calls for proposals and competitions.

We must then strengthen sanctions against companies and entities that do not respect the mandatory hiring quotas, in order to ensure their dissuasive effectiveness:

- introduction of ancillary sanctions, such as suspension of licenses and temporary closure of activities for a minimum period of 5 days,

- exclusion from public contracts until compliance with the requirements imposed by law 68/1999 is restored.

Extra-curricular internship

The affiliated entities they can currently recruit from 5 to 100 disabled trainees, depending on the conditions, without any obligation to hire. The disabled person, however, cannot follow more than one year of internship. Job placement and training thus vanish. We should work on three fronts:

- the severely disabled must be authorized to perform further internships, also with other institutions and without time limits, until they find a placement,

- the severely disabled must have the right to smart working (see point 3), also during the internship phase,

- Institutions must be obliged to hire at least 1/5 of the trainees enrolled in the previous fiscal year, as a condition for being able to apply for other traineeships.

smart working

It is necessary introduce the right of subordinate and para-subordinate workers (INPS separate management) with severe disabilities to work in smart working. Outside of the only tasks that prevent it altogether, in agreement with the worker.

Lo smart working it must be subjected to a de minimis discipline, designed to exclude that it translates into mere work at home with social isolation of workers. One should therefore:

- provide for the obligation to interactive business meetings, with a minimum pre-established frequency, albeit with telematic tools,

- favor the periodic physical meetings, not necessarily at workplaces but also in different spaces (eg coworking), provided they do not have architectural barriers.

Training

Training continues of people with disabilities and of caregiver of seriously disabled people - even remotely - must be incentivized by means of an extraordinary tax credit in favor of employers and clients who contribute to at least 50% of the income from work. In favor of subordinate and para-subordinate workers (registered in the separate Inps management).

The guests nursing homes must in turn receive training, also through interactive digital tools (eg. Wiki Parky tv). With the objectives of improving functionality and autonomy, in the context of personalized programs to be subjected to periodic reporting.

The government it must support the provision of remote training services in an interactive way by non-profit organizations (associations, social enterprises, cooperatives, universities and research centers).

Personal mobility and enabling technologies

The Ministry of Labor should make a contribution to the purchase of personal mobility devices and means (e.g. wheelchairs with electric motors, cars and other vehicles adapted for driving by people with disabilities, devices for adapting vehicles to driving by disabled people) - in favor of the severely disabled with an active job position - within a spending limit of € 5.000 every 4 years.

The Ministry of Transport must in turn recognize the equivalence of wheelchairs and other electrically powered vehicles intended for the severely disabled to electric bicycles. As already repeatedly requested by Legambiente together with Égalité.

The Department of Labor it should also provide a contribution to the purchase of technological tools to promote the work and training of the severely disabled, whether they are workers (subordinate or para-subordinate) or extra-curricular trainees, within a limit of € 2.500 every 4 years. With particular regard to enabling technologies for people with sensory disabilities.

Such contributions, as well as the 4% VAT already provided for direct purchases by people with disabilities, are paid to the disabled themselves or to entities (companies, cooperatives) that purchase personal mobility tools for the exclusive use of subordinate or para-subordinate workers (Inps separate management, including administrators) with severe disabilities.

Il Welfare it should also support the production of personal mobility devices and tools and enabling technologies - as well as related research and development - through grants to projects carried out by non-profit entities (associations, social enterprises, cooperatives, universities and centers of public research).

104 / 92 law

Benefits provided for by law 104/92 (framework law for assistance, social integration and the rights of handicapped persons) in article 33.3 - 3 days / month of leave for paid work abstention - must be extended to para-subordinate workers (separate Inps management).

Caregivers

We must introduce the criteria already used in the medico-legal field to evaluate the dynamic-functional profile of the person with disabilities and therefore the degree of actual autonomy (Barthel index).

Our caregiver of severely disabled people are entitled to:

- receive training, even remotely,

- a reserved quota of jobs in calls and competitions.

Ai caregiver reference of people with disabilities completely lacking in self-sufficiency the right to apply for recognition of professional qualification and employment as a civil servant must be recognized.

The role of the ministry of Welfare

The ministry of Welfare - namely, precisely, of Labor and Social Policies - has an essential role in promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities. In the world of work and in society in general. And it is therefore that Undersecretary Steni Di Piazza has received with interest and expressed great sensitivity towards the proposed topics. With a view to starting a work table aimed at defining as soon as possible the concrete solutions to the problems raised.

The school it is in turn the first space for social inclusion, with an integration approach inter pairs which in fact characterizes the Italian school system, in contrast to the 'medical' scheme of 'special' institutions that still exists in some EU Member States. However, it is essential and urgent to adapt the school complexes so that effective accessibility is guaranteed, which is still lacking, as seen, in 66% and 98% of cases. Respectively, as regards architectural barriers and the lack of aids for sensory disabilities.

Dario Dongo

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