Jarhag Sven, Nilsson Gunilla, Werning Mats
Jonkoping University, Jonkoping, Sweden.
Soc Work Public Health. 2009 May-Jun;24(3):255-72. doi: 10.1080/19371910802595315.
Persons with disabilities have well-documented problems entering the labor market all over the world. Research reveals that legislation to assist such individuals has relatively less significance than the attitudes of individual employers. In Jonkoping, Sweden, a smaller town of about 120,000 inhabitants, about 100 openings for jobs are created annually for people with learning disabilities and reduced employment capacity. Despite difficulties, local labor market agencies succeed to a relatively great extent, to find real and lasting jobs. An intervention often used for these individuals in Sweden is called Special Introduction and Follow-up Support (SIUS). The purpose of this paper is to provide balance to the somewhat biased but dominant view of persons with disabilities and unemployability. This is contradicted by Swedish data showing that it is possible to find jobs for people with disabilities with the support by trained of SIUS advisers.
