HOW ARE YOU?: Chuat (second left) and Sato (left) meeting the participants of seminar. — Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING: About 150 participants attended the Supported Employment for People with Disabilities (PWD) seminar held at a leading hotel here.
Sarawak Welfare Department collaborated with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in holding the seminar. It aimed to further promote the employability of PWD throughout the state.
“They (PWD) are capable of working just like everyone else. Their label as ‘unemployable’ is merely a myth,” said Assistant Minister for Welfare Robert Lawson Chuat who closed the seminar yesterday.
According to Chuat, studies had shown that PWD employees were capable of performing well if they were supported with job coaching and given reasonable accommodation.
The first phase of the programme said Chuat started in 2009 to 2012 where job coaching methods was the main focus.
The second phase of the programme, according to him, was to further promote job coaching and supported employment throughout the nation.
He pointed out that not many employers were ready to employ PWD due to their negative perception of them.
Among the hurdles PWD faced were the structure and designs of buildings which were not PWD-friendly.
“There is a lot of PWD who cannot get to their workplace due to the inaccessibility of public transportation,” said Chuat adding there were a total of 30,997 registered PWDs in the state.
Also present at the seminar was the State Welfare Department acting director Zainal Taram and Jica chief representative Kunihiko Sato.