Although every tenth resident of the country has a disability, very few employees have a colleague with a disability. In order to change the attitude towards employees with disabilities on May 16. DUOday initiative is being organized for the first time in the country - a day when companies will welcome people with disabilities to get to know different workplaces.
The participants of the initiative, who will spend the day together with the company's employee, will not only observe the work, but will also be actively involved in it themselves - they will try out the usual tasks of the employees, participate in meetings, communicate with colleagues.
The provision is a subversive initiative
DUOday is an initiative organized in Europe for more than a decade, through which people with disabilities go to companies and spend the day observing employees and performing tasks together in various workplaces. It is an opportunity for company employees and organizations to get to know the abilities and talents of people with disabilities, and for the latter to see various workplaces.
The initiator of DUOday organized for the first time in Lithuania is social employment agency SOPA, which has been helping people with disabilities find work for 13 years.
"With this initiative, we want to draw attention to the current problem of employment of people with disabilities.
Although employers complain that they cannot find employees, people with disabilities have a hard time finding their way to the labor market. Unemployment among people with disabilities reaches 70%. , and 35 percent people with disabilities live below the poverty line," says Jurgita Kuprytė, head of VšĮ SOPA.
According to her, there are many stereotypes about people with disabilities that often go beyond reality. According to the World Health Organization, even 74 percent people with mobility disabilities do not need a wheelchair and their disability is not visible in any other way. "What is not familiar is often frightening, because employers who have not encountered employees with disabilities do not know what to expect from them, how the disability will affect their productivity, what adaptation of working conditions is required. Therefore, with this initiative, we aim to break stereotypes, help people meet in the work environment and get to know each other better", says J. Kuprytė.
Seeks to showcase the talents of people with disabilities
One of the aims of the initiative is to give people with disabilities the opportunity to get to know the company from the inside and "try on" the profession of their dreams. The participants of the initiative will be able to try positions in various directions, starting from simpler jobs, such as waiters or railway conductors, to jobs requiring higher competences, such as programmers, marketing specialists or ministerial advisors.
Another goal of the initiative is to give the company's employees and employers the opportunity to get to know the professional abilities and talents of people with disabilities. In the design agency "Critical", the talented Titus with Down's syndrome will have the opportunity to demonstrate his special ability - to create comic stories about the environment around him - in the creative environment.
In the shopping centre - a workplace for a colleague with autism spectrum disorderi
As J. Kuprytė, head of SOPA, says, with the company "Rimi Lithuania", which already has a large track record of employing people with disabilities, special preparations were made for DUOday: "We reviewed the tasks performed by a hall employee and separated those that could best be performed by a person with an autism spectrum disorder. During DUOday, a person with a disability will be able to try tasks specially adapted for him. We really hope that this practice of separating functions will work and more places will be created for people with disabilities", says J. Kuprytė.
Segregation of duties is a long-standing practice in other countries for workers with disabilities.
This is especially important for people with disabilities who will never develop the skills they need to compete in the market - eg intellectual disabilities, learning difficulties, hearing impairments.
The first DUOday initiative in Lithuania was joined by:
Law firm "Elex Valiunas", Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Comfort hotel", hotel "ibis Vilnius center", "Lithuanian railways","Swedbank"Telia Lietuva", Vilnius city municipalities administration, Simplanova, CV online, 15 min., Lietuvos Paštas, Transvera, Ministry of Social Security and Labor, Lithuanian Radio and Television, Western Union Processing Lithuania, Pietausim, European Social fund agency, "Rimi Lietuva", design agency "Critical", south restaurant "Maisto Ritmu", "Baltic Master", State Plant Breeding Service under ŽŪM, "Primas Blynas".
