Despite the crisis and a fear of
rising unemployment, the Nordic countries are intensifying their
efforts so that more people with disabilities are admitted into
ordinary working life. Hopefully this should open the doors for many
more in the future – as Lars Anderson says: “Getting a job has given me
a new life and I now hope that more people with disabilities get the
same chance as me.”
Letting more people into ordinary working life was top of the agenda
when the Nordic labour ministers met in Finland recently. Also joining
the debate were employers’ representatives, the Council of Nordic Trade
Unions and the Nordic Council on Disability. Now the challenge is to
get employers to agree it is a good idea to hire people with
disabilities. Our theme this month is about strategies and measures
which can contribute to social sustainability by giving people with
reduced work abilities the chance of finding a job.
Loa Brynjulfsdottir is the newly elected general secretary at the
Council of Nordic Trade Unions, a cooperation of 16 national trade
unions representing more than nine million members in the Nordic
region. We have given her a voice in the Portrait.
Loa Brynjulfsdottir belongs to a generation which moves freely
between the Nordic countries, often facing border obstacles. She wants
to spend her energy doing something about this, also when it comes to
border obstacles which make it harder for people with disabilities to
move between countries. We met her at a conference where the costs of
border obstacles were presented.
The work to remove border obstacles continues during the Norwegian
presidency of the Nordic Council of Minsters in 2012. The programme
also covers an inclusive working life and the centrally led adaptation
of working life for weaker groups in society. Broad participation is a
key factor of the Nordic welfare states.
Senior officer Sari Loijas at the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs
and Health has been working for a long time to make sure people with
disabilities who cannot compete on level terms with other workers get
the chance to enter the labour market. She now sees a new drive in this
work as more parties get involved. But the proof is in the pudding.
Sari Loijas is visually impaired and uses a guide dog. There is not a
lack of legislation, she says, but a lack of action.
