Make Job Opportunities Available to People with Disabilities

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

A woman and her child walk in front of the House of the Blind Massage at the Siola Public Service Mall, Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday (14/12/2019). The facility, built by the Surabaya city administration, provides access to jobs for the blind. At the massage house there are 10 certified masseurs and masseuses.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The state’s attention to people with disabilities should not be restricted to abstract policy. It should manifest in concrete efforts to promote inclusivity. Apart from encouraging and supporting the achievements of disabled people in sports and the arts, inclusive job opportunities should also be made available.

The creation of jobs for disabled people will increase the rate of labor participation. Based on data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the workforce in February 2019 totaled 136 million. National Workforce Survey (Sakernas) data from 2016 showed that about 15 percent of the workforce in Indonesia was composed of disabled people.

However, as it stands, the scope for disabled people to contribute to development is limited. They are often unable to access sufficiently inclusive education, and job opportunities are scarce.

“In order to acquire appropriate education and employment, disabled people have to go through a long process and undergo multiple sources of discrimination,” said the coordinator of the National Coalition of the Working Group on the Disabled Persons Bill, Ariani Soekanwo, in Jakarta on Monday.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Disabled barista Eko Sugeng prepares to make coffee at the Cupable Coffee cafe in the Yakkum Rehabilitation Center complex, Ngaglik district, Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday (11/12/2019). The cafe is also a training facility for people with disabilities who wish to become baristas. The training helps them to remain productive and independent.

This happens because the requirement, outlined by Law No.8/2016 on Disabled Persons, to recruit civil servants and employees with disabilities to government institutions (2 percent) and private companies (1 percent) has not yet been seriously implemented. “The government and the private sector are seemingly unwilling to recruit disabled people,” added Ariani.

To bridge the gap, Thisable Enterprise, for example, encourages companies to cooperate with it to learn about disabilities in order to better accommodate disabled people at their institutions. This move allows companies to both provide the best working environment for disabled people and make the best use of their skills. Thisable Enterprise is an organization that trains disabled workers and helps them find employment.

The government and the private sector are seemingly unwilling to recruit disabled people.

“As they enter a new working environment, it’s not only the disabled persons that can get confused, but also other employees. Besides auditing office accessibility, we help other personnel understand people with disabilities and how to engage with them,” said Fanny Evrita of Thisable Enterprise.

The organization, founded by Angkie Yudistia who is now a special staffer for the President, has positioned 260 disabled people to work as partners at GoLife to serve orders for massages, house maintenance, transport and other services provided by Gojek applications.

KOMPAS/HARIS FIRDAUS

Triyono, the founder of the transportation company Difa Bike, smiles while in front of his office in Yogyakarta on Wednesday (11/12/2019). Difa Bike is a motorcycle taxi company that hires people with disabilities as drivers. Besides empowering people with disabilities, Difa Bike also wants to provide safe and comfortable transportation for people with disabilities.

Growing awareness

Although still inadequate, commitment and awareness among private companies to recruit disabled employees have started growing. Grab has accepted 90 disabled persons as driving partners in Jakarta, Bandung, Medan and Surabaya. Likewise, several cafés have employed disabled people as baristas, such as Sunyi House of Coffee and Hope and Kopi Tuli in Jakarta.

In Yogyakarta, Yayasan Kristen untuk Kesehatan Umum (Yakkum) rehabilitation center, a foundation for the empowerment of disabled persons, provides training for disabled people to be employed in different fields. For example, it provides inclusive barista training.

“In 2018 there were about 1,200 cafes in Yogyakarta. So the job opportunities for those who undergo inclusive barista training are fairly widely open. Besides working at coffee shops, some graduates have even opened their own coffee stalls,” said Head of the Information and Communication Division of Yakkum’s Rehabilitation Center, Muhammad Aditya Setyawan.

Tokopedia Care in Yogyakarta has also begun recruiting disabled people to work as customer care officers. The garment and accessories shop H&M Indonesia at Aeon Mall BSD City, Tangerang, Banten, has now employed 10 persons with impaired hearing.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Mentally handicapped people participate in a training program on producing handicrafts with colored cloth using shibori techniques at the Yakkum Rehabilitation Center complex, Ngaglik district, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Wednesday (11/12/2019). The training was held for two months. Such training programs are held routinely at the center to help people with disabilities become productive and financially independent.

The initiative to empower disabled people has also been taken by individuals. Bintang Oei Matan, 38, opened a computer training academy for disabled people in 2015. More than 400 students have learned computer skills with Bintang to increase their competitiveness in the job market.

In Yogyakarta, Triyono, 38, a disabled man, has set up a transportation firm, Difa Bike. This company offers a motorcycle taxi service that both serves and employs disabled people. Difa Bike has 26 drivers. Its motorbikes are modified according to the needs of the drivers and customers, who are generally residents using wheelchairs who struggle to access public transportation.

“About 70 percent of our customers are disabled people. Besides providing passenger transportation services, Difa Bike also delivers goods, offers city tour packages and provides massage services by masseurs with impaired vision,” said Triyono.

(HRS/AYU/RWN/COK/JOL/JUM/FRD/SON)