ILO Videos Encourage Hiring of Disabled Workers

The ILO just produced a video entitled AbilityAsia that is designed to promote employment of people with disabilities by showing powerful images of them working productively and by giving voice to employers who praise their capabilities. Narrated by Michelle Cheung of CNBC, the video encourages employers to hire workers with disabilities by identifying specific benefits and begins to educate employers about methods of integrating workers with disabilities into mainstream workplaces.

“Too often people with disabilities are portrayed as incapable, unproductive, or the objects of charity.” Says Debra Perry, the ILO’s Senior Specialist in Vocational Rehabilitation for Asia and the Pacific. “AbilityAsia shows that people with disabilities can be excellent workers, regardless of the nature of their impairment.”

The video includes interviews with employers and their employees with disabilities and shows disabled workers on the job and interacting with managers and co-workers. Further, through interviews with experts and representatives of employer groups focusing on disability - like the Business Advisory Council in Cambodia and the Employers' Disability Network in Sri Lanka - the message is clear. People with disabilities can make productive employees. Filmed in four Asian countries and areas (Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong) it illustrates how workers with disabilities can perform effectively in a variety of jobs and work settings.

Among the employers interviewed in Sri Lanka was Mr. Anver Dole, CEO of CEI Plastics Ltd., who points out that 10% of the labour force in his company are persons with disabilities, and their performance is often way above average. Likewise, Mr. Asanka Bandara of the Sampath Bank talks of the efficiency of their hearing impaired employees working in their cash department. The programme also included visits to BASF Finlay (Pvt) Ltd and the Mlesna Gourmet Tea Products.
The Director-General of Employers Federation of Ceylon - Mr. Gotabaya Dassanayake, states that in order to achieve our development goals, it is essential to bring into our productive labour force, all segments of workers, including those who are considered to be marginalized.

The video is primarily intended for use by employers or business associations or by non-governmental or governmental organizations that make presentations to such groups throughout the region.

A separate video in the Thai language, AbilityThailand, serves as a contribution the Kingdom's 2002 campaign to foster employment for workers with disabilities. Both videos are ready for distribution.

If you are interested in obtaining copies of either video, write an email to us at abilityasia@ilo.org. Please give specific details about how you intend to use the video and how many employers you expect to reach.

More than half the world’s people with disabilities live in Asia and the Pacific, a total of more than 370 million people. Most of them are of working age, are unemployed or underemployed, live in rural areas and are disproportionately poor. They face many barriers to employment, including inaccessible training institutions and workplaces, lack of transportation, and negative attitudes.

The primary goal of the ILO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, is to promote equal opportunities for women and men, including those with disabilities, to obtain decent work. The ILO defines decent work as productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. For more information about the ILO, please visit our web site at www.ilo.org. To learn more about our activities related to people with disability in the region, visit www.ilo.org/abilityasia.