Inclusive Work and Employment
Joy Cevallos Garcia
joycevgar@yahoo.com
Abstract
Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, as a pioneer advocate on the welfare of persons with
disability (PWDs) in the Philippines for 42 years now, has come-up with different designs and
strategies for an effective mainstreamed work environment, like identifying the career path of
PWDs that may start from the very basic, such as; social service and holistic rehabilitation –
vocat i onal t rai ni ng and shel t ered empl oyment – support ed empl oyment – t o
mainstreamed/inclusive employment.
In the sheltered workshops, we train and employ even those with severe disabilities.
We adapted the premise of an effective, productive and inclusive participation by grouping
them together (persons without disability, PWDs who are fast workers and those persons with
severe disability who have limited mobility).
We partnered with the government and the business sector to broaden the opportunities
for employment. In these partnerships, we work together to identify gaps to create a more
sensitive work environment anchored at local and international policies.
The Philippines has been working towards upgrading the standard of living of PWDs
for the past 40 years. Laws had been passed, although the implementation becomes a big
challenge to the state and the stakeholders. In 1986, the Magna Carta for Persons with
Disabilities (Republic Act 7277) came to existence. Included in it is the Economic
Development that mandates government agencies to take the lead in creating opportunities
such as sheltered workshops, mainstreamed employment and rehabilitation centers.
Not much has changed, till such time that the NGOs and civil societies took the lead
in this initiative. Empowerment through capacity building changed the attitudes of the PWDs
as well as the attitudes of the service providers. Public and private partnerships b ecame
stronger through local and international laws.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD),
the Philippines being a signatory, prompted the state to change or make new laws. Executive
Order 417, Economic Empowerment to PWDs, was passed aiming to give 10% of the
government procurement to organizations, cooperatives, and NGOs who could provide their
needed requirements.
The General Appropriation Act states that all government agencies should have
projects for PWDs. If properly implemented, the disability sector will be guaranteed a bit of
a slice of the projects the government undertakes.
In the quest for equal opportunity and effective inclusive work environment, we continue to
lobby and advocate for the full implementation of law. At present, we are now lobbying for
the passing of the Social Enterprise bill and the bill for additional tax exemptions for PWD
workers. The government should be able to recognize disability-related costs a PWD is
experiencing especially in mainstreamed employment. A change in the perception of a PWD
as an employee and a worker, focused on one’s ability and capability and not on the disability,
may well start the acceptance of PWDs as equals in the community.