With the medical advances in today's world, various disabilities have been identified. Hence, people with disability are not considered as one group because a disability could be physical, sensory, intellectual or mental and each category could be of a more advanced distinctiveness.
A person could be born with a disability or could have acquired this in childhood or even later in life while in employment. Disability may have little impact on the person's ability to work and be active in society. Or it may have a major impact, requiring substantial support and assistance.
In countries throughout the world, including Malta, people with disability are participating in, and contributing to, the world of work at all levels. Many persons with disability would like to work, yet opportunities are limited and they encounter various difficulties.
It is increasingly apparent that disabled people not only have a valuable contribution to make to the national economy but that their employment is an effective way of having every native of our country integrated into the development of social, cultural and economic growth of these islands and their people.
The new employment legislation (Employment and Industrial Relations Act, 2002) includes, among others, persons with a disability when defining "discriminatory treatment". Moreover, Article 30 of LN 44 of 2002 - Work Place (Minimum Health and Safety Requirements) Regulations, 2002 - provides that the employer shall ensure that the workplace is so organised and arranged to take account of the health and safety requirements of any disabled workers, so far as reasonably practical, in particular to the doors, passageways, staircases, showers, washbasins, lavatories, resting and eating facilities and workstations used or occupied directly by disabled persons.
Moreover, according to law, the employer is obliged to ensure that the work equipment assigned for use by the disabled person or the type of work itself are such that the disabled person is not exposed to dangers to his health and safety due to his disability.
The impositions laid down by law imply that the employer should find ways how to handle his/her obligations. The employer should manage disability-related issues in the workplace and adopt a strategy for managing disability as an integral part of their overall employment policy and, specifically, as part of the human resources development strategy. This disability management strategy may be linked to employee assistance programmes, where they exist.
In some countries, part of the employment costs of a person with a disability are covered by state subsidies. In Spain, employers are given a subsidy of €3,000 and a grant of €900 for concluding a permanent job contract.
In Belgium, employers can receive subsidies if they guarantee that disabled people will receive the same wages as non-disabled people. In some countries - Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and Portugal - costs of adapting workplaces to meet the needs of people with disability may be covered, at least in part, by public institutions.
The year 2003 has been earmarked as the European Year of Persons with Disability. It is time for society to commit itself to change its attitudes towards this segment of the population by endorsing their equal rights and full participation in society.
The disabled will be with us even after 2003 and this highlights the need for a sustained effort to respect diversity. This respect towards diversity in whatever form - disability or otherwise - is one of the indicators that measure the progress of civilisation in a modern society.
Dr Borg is executive, EU and Legal Affairs, Malta Employers' Association