Showing that integration works

22 December 2010. A professor who is blind, an IT expert with Asperger syndrome, a politician who is paraplegic, a top athlete who races on one ski: People with disabilities are active in all these sectors and work environments. Across Europe, roughly 10 per cent of the population has a disability. They are often excluded from equal participation in the labour market.

Award for exemplary integration
The “ComToAct” initiative of the CDI-HSG reinforces positive perceptions of people with disabilities and promotes greater public awareness for the merits and skills of persons with disabilities in the workplace. The award honours organisations that are committed to exemplary integration of persons with disabilities in the primary labour market. The award was announced in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Quotas and successful integration
The symposium will present the current working environments of people with disabilities using positive examples from the work world in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Paths to a sustainable working environment for people with disabilities will be highlighted: Speakers from the Institute for Social Services, Vorarlberg, will present their integration project SPAGAT. Prof. Dr. Josef Zweimüller of the University of Zurich will talk about recent finding on quota regulations. Experts from the areas of research, politics and business will discuss the effects on the work world of demographic change, funding gaps in disability insurance and pensions systems or new IT technology.