Vocational training is also possible with a disability
There are special facilities for people with intellectual disabilities where they can learn and work. However, young people with a physical or sensory disability are just as cognitively fit as everyone else.
They simply need certain aids - such as an assistant - to carry out a task. Such measures are usually covered by disability insurance (IV).
According to Andrea Brusch, IV counsellor at the Zurich Social Insurance Office, the first step is often a job coach. This person works with the trainee during the search for an apprenticeship. The coach informs potential training companies if their managers want to know more about what to expect, for example if they want to employ a young deaf person or a woman in a wheelchair.
As many people with a disability as possible should try to gain a foothold in the regular labour market.
«Many companies that want to train a person with a disability imagine an academic in a wheelchair,» says Simon Müller, Deputy Managing Director of the MyHandicap Foundation (editor's note: Simon Müller has been Co-Managing Director of the MyHandicap Foundation since November 2022). «But that's not the rule. Extra work areas often have to be created and processes restructured for an apprentice. Unfortunately, very few companies are prepared to do this.»
People with disabilities share their experiences on the online portal EnableMe. One of them is Klaus H.*, a young man with a visual impairment. After several years at a school tailored to his needs, the search for an apprenticeship is a tough reality check for him.
It is not just a matter of convincing potential training companies that he is able to do the work despite his severely impaired vision. A training company must also be sure that the facilities, work processes and tools are suitable for the young person's needs and abilities. Klaus H. eventually finds an apprenticeship in plant maintenance.
Sandra P.* can only get around in an electric wheelchair. After completing her vocational baccalaureate and an internship in the HR department of an SME, she wants to study social work. Her physical impairment does not appear to be an obstacle to this.
Whether the university will then really be completely barrier-free or the young woman will get stuck somewhere is another question. Nevertheless, her chances of finding an exciting job and leading a self-determined life are good.
Chronic and mental illnesses, learning disabilities:
Training is the key to independence
After all, that is ultimately the goal of any training programme: to find a job that you like and that earns you enough to live independently. Simon Müller therefore believes that as many people with a disability as possible should try to gain a foothold in the regular, so-called primary labour market and not be shielded from it in sheltered workshops.
«The longer and the further away someone is from the primary labour market, the more difficult it is to establish themselves in it.» For him, educating children and young people with disabilities in mainstream classes is clearly the better option.
Find your own path in seven steps
- Step 1: Get to know your own interests and strengths
How everyday habits and dreams can serve as a guide to self-assessment for young people. A questionnaire for career selectors. - Step 2: Get to know professions and training programmes
An overview of the most important educational programmes, professions of the future, where the shortage of apprentices and skilled workers is greatest and which career paths lead via a university. - Step 3: Compare your own strengths with the requirements of professions and training programmes
Comparing your own skills with the requirements of professions, how people with disabilities can find their way into the desired working environment and what role performance tests play. - Step 4: Get to know interesting professions in a taster apprenticeship
The career choice internship is the reality check: what forms of taster apprenticeships there are and what young people need to know about taster apprenticeships. - Step 5: Review possible professions and training programmes and make a decision
To what extent starting a career is an important step in personal development, why the training company must be as good a fit as the profession - and how young professionals compete for titles. - Step 6: Look for an apprenticeship or register with a school
What is important when looking for an apprenticeship, how to make a good impression at an interview and ten tips for a convincing application portfolio. - Step 7: Prepare for the apprenticeship or school or clarify bridging programmes
Once you have decided what you want to do after compulsory schooling, it is important to find out more and prepare for it - otherwise there are a number of useful bridging programmes.
Andrea Brusch would also like to see as many people with disabilities as possible earning a living in the primary labour market.
«However, if we realise that it is more beneficial for a young person to start an apprenticeship in a protected environment after leaving school, we recommend this route. It makes more sense for a young person to find their way into working life and be able to switch to the primary labour market later than to have a bad experience early on and have to drop out of their apprenticeship.»
Andrea Brusch refers to the new regulation according to which training at the next higher level in the primary labour market is to take place after completing training in a protected environment.
The first point of contact is the IV office in the canton of residence
Simon Müller has set up a job and apprenticeship exchange on the EnableMe platform. Companies advertise apprenticeships there for which they would also recruit people with a disability. For him, it is clear that people with a disability can help to alleviate the shortage of skilled labour thanks to their skills in many areas.
If you need support because of an impairment or are looking for support for a relative, it is best to contact the IV office in the canton where you live first.
* Names changed
Further contact points:
www.mitschaffe.ch
www.inclusion-handicap.ch
www.insieme.ch
www.sibu.ch
