Rule 7. Employment (positive action)
States should actively support the integration of persons with disabilities into open employment.
- Vocational training,
- Incentive-oriented quota schemes, reserved or designated employment, loans or grants for small business, exclusive contracts or priority production rights, tax concessions, contract compliance or other technical or financial assistance to enterprises employing workers with disabilities
Should also encourage employers to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate persons with disabilities.
Notes:
Rule 7 also calls on the State to take action to provide positive incentives to help persons with disabilities gain employment. This includes special training programmes, the use of targets and quotas to ensure that places are set aside, and finding ways to encourage employers to provide reasonable accommodations. It often means using state funds to subsidize employment, or tax incentives to compensate employers for making efforts to employ persons with disabilities.
This positive, or affirmative, action is often controversial. It is sometimes seen as imposing an unfair burden on business or the private sector generally. The notion of what is a reasonable accommodation is often very difficult to resolve. How to implement this norm, and more specifically, how to draft it in a convention where it will be legally binding is something that has not yet been resolved.
It is something, however, that you should clearly consider if livelihoods are to be secured.