Translation of "Facilitateur pour l'emploi des personnes handicapées " (French → English) :

50. Recommends that the Member States develop new measures to help vulnerable and socially excluded groups, especially people with disabilities, find jobs with enterprises (including social economy enterprises) or public bodies, so as to promote inclusion, not least in those regions that are economically weaker and socially more vulnerable, or that they further develop existing legislation, such as the 2000 Employment Directive, which deals with the employment of people with disabilities; recommends that the Member States ensure that people with disabilities participate in education from early childhood, by removing the current barriers ...[+++] and providing them with assistance; recommends that the Member States promote accessible environments for people with disabilities and pay particular attention to the situation of early childhood education and care so as to prevent the irreversible exclusion, without any hope of reintegration, of children born with disabilities; calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up exchanges of best practice and introduce multifaceted measures for the integration of the people with disabilities into the job market; recommends that the Member States ensure that the elderly and people with disabilities have access to social and health care services;

B. whereas over 80 million people, or around 16 % of the European Union's total population, are living with disabilities – including people with mental health problems, with special regard to autism – and their rate of unemployment is at least twice as high as that of people without disabilities; whereas people with disabilities constitute a vulnerable group, among whom the rate of poverty is 70 % higher than average; whereas the rate of employment for people with disabilities is only around 45 %, while high-quality jobs ensure economic independence and foster personal achieveme ...[+++]nt; whereas unemployment increases the risk of poverty and social exclusion, since at least a quarter of the population suffer once during their lifetime from a mental health problem and whereas for 10 % of them this can lead to chronic mental health problems, underlining the need for active and targeted policies to combat this persistent situation; whereas the higher risk of poverty is often the result of limited access not only to employment and training but also to healthcare and appropriate treatment,

B. whereas over 80 million people, or around 16 % of the European Union’s total population, are living with disabilities – including people with mental health problems, with special regard to autism – and their rate of unemployment is at least twice as high as that of people without disabilities; whereas people with disabilities constitute a vulnerable group, among whom the rate of poverty is 70 % higher than average; whereas the rate of employment for people with disabilities is only around 45 %, while high-quality jobs ensure economic independence and foster personal achieveme ...[+++]nt; whereas unemployment increases the risk of poverty and social exclusion, since at least a quarter of the population suffer once during their lifetime from a mental health problem and whereas for 10 % of them this can lead to chronic mental health problems, underlining the need for active and targeted policies to combat this persistent situation; whereas the higher risk of poverty is often the result of limited access not only to employment and training but also to healthcare and appropriate treatment,

The first phase of this action plan, covering a two-year period (2004-05), will concentrate on creating the conditions necessary to promote the employment of people with disabilities, granting them appropriate autonomy in this regard.

Within the context of the European Year on People with Disabilities, the social partners adopted a declaration on promoting equal opportunities and access to employment for people with disabilities.

35. Reminds the European Institutions of their code of good practice on the employment of people with disabilities and calls for the creation of an interinstitutional group to examine the conditions of access for people with disabilities to those institutions: access to and actual participation in meetings and appropriate recruitment and employment conditions; calls for such a group to produce regular public reports on the efforts made to implement the code of good practice and the progress achieved in ensuring that disabled people - employees and visitors alike - have full access to all the EU institutions; calls on the EU institution ...[+++]s to produce reports every two years on the number of disabled people they employ and the posts occupied by those persons;