ALL THEY NEED IS JOBS

A photograph of a young man on a wheelchair travelled across all of our social networking sites a few months ago. The text accompanying the photo prompted a particular response: the man did not cry for help. All he wanted was a job. Naturally, the absolute majority of high-paid private sector jobs are offered to persons with no disabilities. Arguments vary - from material to ethical. Some doubt that disabled persons can work appropriately to benefit the company while others are reluctant to take responsibility for a disabled employee. This puts the people with disabilities in a difficult social condition. 

Members of Azerbaijan's deaf and mute community often encounter problems with employment but thanks to businessmen, the situation may improve. 

Rovzat Abdulmabudov is 22 years old. His parents cannot wait to see him married but Rovzat himself does not rush into starting a family. He wants to create a successful career first. He dreams of becoming a computer specialist and loves football. On the whole, he is no different from his peers except for the fact that he is deaf and mute. 

Rovzat has only finished specialized school No 1 for the deaf and mute. Despite a great wish he could not afford to make it to the higher education, something that diminishes his chances of employment. Through help from the Society of Deaf and Mute he recently found a job at a company which has a few dozen disabled employees. "I am dealing with storing documents in the computer," he said. "I am surrounded mainly by other people with the same speech impediment as I". He said that the staff has a friendly attitude to everybody and that he is happy with his job. 

Nizami Xaliqzada of the Society of Deaf and Mute, who specializes in the language of gestures, said that what distinguishes the deaf and mute from ordinary people is their restricted access to information and difficulty in receiving education - not only higher education but also specialized one. "In Soviet times, there existed specialized training and production enterprises," he said. "Older deaf and mute persons received at least some professional and technical education and worked in textile or shoemaking workshops. Now none of these educational institutions exist. Now the Education Ministry is dealing with the matter and soon we plan to propose a project of an educational institution for the deaf and mute". He said that young people with limited abilities are keen to receive education and easily pick up computer skills. At the moment, the Society runs gesture language courses for both deaf and mute and ordinary people. Xaliqzada and Abdulmabudov believe that large businesses, alongside the state, can make a difference in this. 

Vuqar Safarov, head of an advertising company, said that his business is helping deaf and mute persons with employment. 

Persons with limited abilities do not need any other help apart from jobs. They are fully fledged members of our society and they can work. People's attitude to them however prompts talks about inequality. 

The Society of Deaf and Mute has about 8,100 registered deaf and mute or hearing-impaired persons. Nevertheless, the Society says that their actual number is much higher. Visually-impaired persons encounter particular difficulties. While persons with other disabilities can find jobs, albeit with difficulty, depending on the type of disability (office jobs, paper work, etc.), visually disabled persons have far less chances to succeed.  

According to Samyar Abdullayev, chairman of the republican Society of the Blind, there are over 30,000 visually-disadvantaged persons in the country at the moment of whom only 3,000-4,000 are employable and only 600-700 of these actually work. Often they start jobs as telephone operators, masseurs and that is basically it. Despite wide opportunities open before employable people in our times, visually-impaired persons are devoid of such chances. 

 In Soviet times, vision-impaired persons could work in factories, plants, mainly in the assembly industry. There was a textile factory in the Soviet Union where almost entire personnel were visually-impaired. Currently, no such enterprises exists. 

Ilqar Karimov is visually challenged with three children. He received his education through the Braille method. However, he cannot find a job because of his disability. "I want to provide my family and be a good dad for my kids," he said, "but I have no job and have to depend on help from my brother."

Sahbaz Xalafov, deputy head of the employment service of the Ministry of Labour and Welfare, said that the government has an established quota: at all enterprises where the number of employees exceeds 25 people, four jobs should be allocated for disabled people. However, the task of finding jobs for visually impaired people is still extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible. Xalafov said that the quota extends to not only disabled persons but also refugees and internally displaced persons. While the latter are regarded as socially vulnerable people they are able-bodied workforce and visually impaired persons cannot compete with them. It is particularly difficult for them to find jobs in the private sector since commercial company management believe that employees with poor or no vision will not be as efficient in work. 

Xalafov also said that a number of visually impaired people do masseuse courses but find it hard to find jobs in this area all the same. "The Healthcare Ministry decided to launch masseuse courses and to ensure that persons who complete these courses get jobs in policlinics and hospitals. In addition, we have purchased four Braille programmes which will enable the visually impaired to learn working on the computer," he said. 

The condition of the visually impaired persons deteriorates in time. Pension for those who have at least some work experience significantly differs from the pension of those who did not have a chance to work at all, said Saday Abdullayev, spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Welfare. 

People with limitations can work and want to work. They do not need one off assistance from charitable sponsors, or pity they so often encounter from those who do not suffer from any physical or material privations. They do not need big gestures such as donations or any other help. While they are grateful for all of these, they want to live like everybody else - work, start families and rely on their own strength and not depend on others. We believe large businesses can create jobs that will meet the demands of both disabled persons and entrepreneurs.