Vocational Rehabilitation: A path to inclusion

How do I make the world better for persons with disabilities? one may ask. People with disabilities need skills to engage in livelihood activities, but they start with a number of disadvantages. Their families and communities may assume that they are unable to engage in such activities. They often lack access to basic education, making them unqualified to join skills training courses. These disadvantages frequently result in a lack of skills, as well as low confidence, expectations and achievement.

One major way of integrating persons with disabilities into society is through VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION.

Wikipedia defines vocational rehabilitation as a process which enables persons with functional, psychological, developmental, cognitive, and emotional disabilities or impairments or health disabilities to overcome barriers to accessing, maintaining, or returning to employment or other useful occupation.

The term “Vocational Rehabilitation” means that part of the continuous and coordinated process of rehabilitation which involves the provision of those vocational services, e. g. vocational guidance, vocational training and selective placement, designed to enable a disabled person to secure and retain suitable employment.

Vocational Rehabilitation involves job training and placement. It can help persons with disabilities acquire the different types of skills required for successful work. These skills include foundation skills acquired through education and family life, technical and professional skills which enable a person to undertake a particular activity or task, business skills required to succeed in self-employment and core life skills, including attitudes, knowledge and personal attributes.

Vocational rehabilitation can enable people with disabilities access work opportunities, by actively promoting and facilitating the acquisition of relevant knowledge, skills and attitude. It also gives persons with disabilities an opportunity to be integrated into the working world.