Even in pre-Covid times people with disabilities were less likely to access education, employment and participate in the community. Poverty risk is real and the probability to experience neglect and abuse is higher. However, this year`s pandemic has increased these risks of socioeconomic exclusion for people with disabilities.
The global crisis is deepening pre-existing inequalities and puts millions of people with disabilities under the threat of being further excluded. In Portugal, for example, the level of unemployment among people with disabilities increased in comparison to the previous years. Despite a positive development since 2016, the pandemic caused a big backlash and unemployment rates among people with disabilities were increasing rapidly again this year.
Cooperation between the public sector, unemployment agencies, NGOs and companies from different sectors have had a positive impact and worked towards a better integration of people with disabilities into the Portuguese labor market. An organization that is committed to increase employment rates among this target group is El Corte Inglés. Together with public agencies, they are working on the topic for 14 years and through this network successfully employed more than 200 people with disabilities.
We are proud to have them among our testing organizations in the Diversity@Work project and look forward to further cooperation in this area!
Tomorrow (December 16th 21h WEST) there is an online conversation regarding this relevant topic. Please note that the conversation is only in Portuguese.
