Decent Work and Social Inclusion for People with Disability and Vulnerability: From the Soft Skills to the Involvement of the Context

Abstract

Whilst in the last decades of the twentieth century there has been some improvement in the employment situation for people with disability, in most countries unemployment, poverty and dependence are common experiences for the overwhelming majority of people with vulnerability (Barnes C: Understanding the social model of disability: past, present and future. In: Watson N, Roulestone A, Thomas C, (eds) Routledge handbook of disability studies. Routledge, London, pp 234–295, 2012). Despite the undoubted agreement which has been given to the recognition of rights of employment and decent work for all people, with and without disability, the International Labour Organization (World employment and social outlook: trends 2016. International Labour Organization, Geneva, 2016) states that the structural weaknesses in the global economy led to a considerable gap between the richest and poorest segments of the world population as well as that the right to decent work remains a situation far from being realized in various contexts. Based on this, the chapter examines the employment difficulties of people with disability as well as vulnerability and emphasizes the importance of decent work for personal well-being. Taking into account the need and importance to promote the conditions for decent work for people with disability, we will focus on individual and contextual career interventions that could be developed to improve work and social inclusion. Specifically, as regards interventions toward people with disability and vulnerability, the relevance of soft skills, as supported by a growing evidence base in the past 20 years, will be discussed (such as the work of Balcar J: Rev Econ Perspect 14(1):3–15, 2014). Finally, as regards interventions toward the context we will focus on actions to promote a culture of inclusion and better working conditions for everyone.