“The lingerie department is the only one that she can reach in her wheelchair. Nevertheless, she is fired the next day because of complaints that a woman who is so obviously not sexually attractive selling alluring nightgowns makes customers uncomfortable.”

This anecdote from the works of Prof. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, the co-director of the Disability Studies Initiative at Emory University, Atlanta, US, shows the problems people with a disability face at the workplace. How to solve them is, quite naturally, the pertinent question.

The government has just decided to start enforcing a 1969 law that binds companies with more than 20 workers to employ two per cent of their employees from a special ETC-managed register of people with a disability. Employers who do not comply are obliged to make a contribution towards the Lino Spiteri Foundation, an integration fund used for employment and training of people with a disability.

Yes, you have read correctly. The law was passed in 1969. It took successive governments close to 46 years to put into practice a law aimed at helping people with a disability become net contributors to the economy by having regular employment, engage their skills and talents and achieve the dignity that work provides.

The intention of the Muscat government to take the steps that no other administration dared to take is in itself a praiseworthy initiative. But unfortunately the difficulties that have prevented other administrations from implementing these measures have not been solved prior to deciding on enforcing this law.

There is a real problem because the law does not simply say that a company has to employ an ‘x’ number with a disability but mandates that these people have to be registered as such with the Employment and Training Corporation. There are probably cases where a company is fulfilling the quota but falls foul of the law because these people were not listed in the ETC register.

There are in Malta several registers of people with a disability. A combined register would solve part of the problem as it would deprive employers who do not abide by the quota of an excuse they use to criticise the law. It would also solve the problems of those employers who are complying with the spirit of the law but not with this unnecessary complication of the ETC register.

Another bone of contention is the setting up of quotas. Should there be positive discrimination in favour of people with a disability? This is similar to the argument about positive discrimination in favour of, for example, women on boards of directors. As some feminists are against while others are in favour, there are also people with a disability and workers in the sector who are in favour or against a quota system.

Should there be positive discrimination in favour of people with a disability?

Some say such quotas should not be established as law enforcement brings with it negative criticism of people with a disability. Those against would highlight concrete difficulties to bring the system of positive discrimination in disrepute.

Martin Luther King had faced similar arguments in his struggle for civil liberties. Let us ‘convert’ but not coerce people who are discriminating, his detractors used to say. His reaction was that while the law does not make ‘bad’ people ‘good’, it prevents ‘bad’ people from doing bad things, that is discriminating on the basis of colour. A similar argument can be made in favour of positive discrimination for people with a disability.

I agree with the imposition of quotas as a temporary measure since these can help bring the needed cultural change. The stick has to be temporary and must be accompanied by carrots for it to be effective in the long term.

Along with the stick called con-tribution/fine (take your pick) that an employer who does not comply has to pay, there are a few carrots for those who toe the line. Such employers are given pecuniary benefits which, though beneficial, do not go to the heart of the problem. Pecuniary measures alone are not enough.

There are different quota systems in European countries. The Netherlands’ system of voluntary quotas proved to be ineffective. In the UK, quotas are compulsory but those who do not comply are not made to pay any penalty or contribution to schemes aimed at preparing people with a disability for the labour market.

In Germany and France, for example, both the quota and the contribution are compulsory. There are employers who prefer to pay up instead of employing people with severe disabilities. This shows that enforced quotas on their own are not necessarily the best solution.

The government says it will use the funds collected for employment and training of disabled people and to employ job coaches who can help employers and disabled people at work.

What kinds of jobs will people with a disability be trained for? Will these be mainly sheltered employment? This can be beneficial for those cases where the people concerned are not able to cope with an open work environment. But the vast majority of people with a disability have to be trained for employment in the mainstream work environment albeit with some support, where needed. Unfortunately, the government’s liking for sheltered environments does not augur well in this regard.

Temporary quotas are well and good only if they are accompanied not just with monetary benefits but with well-structured campaigns and initiatives that try to change the predominantly negative perception of people with a disability as ‘those who are not able’ instead of ‘as those with diverse abilities’. Too many people still consider people with a disability as worthy of pity and charity more than as people seeking justice, dignity and equality.

I take my parting shot from Susan Wendell, a prolific writer about the social construction of disability:

“Not only do physically disabled people have experiences which are not available to the able-bodied, they are in a better position to transcend cultural mythologies about the body, because they cannot do things the able-bodied feel they must do in order to be happy, ‘normal’ and sane... If disabled people were truly heard, an explosion of knowledge of the human body and psyche would take place.”

Unfortunately, we are far from the state described by Wendell; and I doubt whether the imposition of quotas and contributions/fines without a holistic strategy for a perceptual and cultural change will bring us significantly nearer to where we should strive to be.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt