Abstract:

The research aimed to develop an understanding of the perceptions, experiences and challenges of young persons with disabilities in areas of education, training and employability skills that support access to work and self-employment for young persons with disabilities. The paper gives an overview of the sector , its demand and the views and inputs from sector specialists and key informants. The emerging key themes which are highlighted are Education, Employment and Awareness.

The paper focuses on the perceptions and experiences of Young Persons with Disabilities (YPWDs), fundamentally those who are pursuing skill education in Pakistan , regarding the employability skills that support access to work and self-employment. It aims to develop an introductory perspective of the demand side i.e the government representatives; employers; NGOs and DPOs; Service Providers, by viewing things from the perspective of sector specialists and key informants.

The findings from the demand side extensively go through the reasons why government interventions would be the most effective platform to promote new ideas, however, there are still barriers that may prevent the implementation of these policies. Moreover, it also states that importance of obtaining accurate data and statistics of persons with disabilities in order to be able to plan and implement appropriate policies and resource allocations. Having said that, it is also a difficult task to clarify the exact number of people with disabilities in Pakistan due to the lack of access to rural areas or cultural sensitivities i.e families keeping children with disabilities at home or generally hidden. It has also been discussed that the quality of SEN education would need serious consideration and attention in order to increase access to higher education for persons with disabilities. This is due to the fact that there has often been a significant learning and skills gap between SEN schools and mainstream higher education, which means that students are not well equipped or instructed to manage the transitioning phase, eventually being left behind. The importance of private and government vocational training centres, that are inaccessible in Pakistan as of now, has also been stated due to the growing recognition that it has in the UK and could be explored further with an aim to identify best practice.

The paper concludes with a set of recommendations where alternate employment opportunities are suggested (e.g. internships and supported employment), improving quality of education and change in the attitude towards peoples’ disabilities and this would include the empowerment of persons with disabilities and assigning them with meaningful work, rather than employing them out of sympathy.

Keywords:

Pakistan, Employability, Young persons, Mainstreaming, perceptions, Skills, Education.