Communication interventions that influence the employment of persons with disabilities

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Persons with disabilities (PwD) lack basic support such as access to social safety nets, education, health services, and gainful employment. Sri Lanka allocates 3% of job opportunities for PWD within the public and corporate sectors. A significant proportion of PwD are affected with a communication impairment. There is minimal evidence pertaining to the employability of these persons. OBJECTIVE: To describe the perspectives of employers pertaining to communication needs required for the employment of PwD and to describe the need for communication interventions for PwD METHODS: This descriptive cross sectional study included 15 companies in the private sector which are employing PwD for a minimum period of one year. Data was collected by a pre-tested self-administrated questionnaire. A descriptive analysis was done using SPSS software. RESULTS: The predominant disabilities present were physical disability (57%) and Speech and Hearing disability (57%). 93% of the companies used formal interviews to recruit PwD, in which majority of the companies (53%) considered communication skills as an important factor in their recruitment. With 53% of the companies stating that the communication skills of the PwD remain significantly below the expected level, 67% perceived that intervention given in communication will increase their productivity and result in increased delivery of outcomes (100%), better quality of work (92%), better peer relationships (83%), high employee satisfaction (75%), and financial increments (67%). CONCLUSION: Speech and language therapy is identified as an integral requirement for the employability of PWD. Communication interventions will better enable PwD to participate and contribute productively to the country’s workforce and economy.