Employment plays a crucial role in an adult's life, as it is a source of financial resources and enables the individual to meet important needs in their life. People with mild intellectual disability (ID) have similar wants and needs that can be met through employment. Some authors write about the main role of work when integrating people with disabilities into daily life. However, despite all efforts, people with mild ID face variety of challenges on their path to employment, which are discussed in more detail in this master thesis. The theoretical part also covers relevant legislation in the field of employment for people with disabilities and the possibilities for the integration of people with mild ID into the workplace.
In the empirical part, the research focuses on the meaning of employment for a person with mild ID, through a case study that focuses on viewpoints of the person with mild ID, her parents, and a vocational rehabilitation provider. At the same time, we wanted to explore and highlight the challenges that the person with mild ID faces in the field of employment. We describe the challenges on her path to employment as well as in her current employment in a residential home for the elderly. In order to provide a more in-depth understanding of the case, a multi-case study was carried out, involving the employed person with mild ID, her parents and the vocational rehabilitation provider who accompanied her on her path to employment. A descriptive method with a qualitative research approach was used and data was collected through semi-structured interviews.
The conducted research has given us an insight into the importance of employment for a person with mild ID as well as an insight into the different challenges that she faced on the path to employment and in her current position. The results showed us that all the participants of the study acknowledge the importance of employment for independence, self-confidence, social inclusion, sense of competence, equality, etc. We also found out that the attitude of the employer has a major impact on the successful integration of people with disabilities into the workplace. The research showed that the person with mild ID faced several challenges on her way to employment as well as in her current job. She repeatedly mentioned fear of unemployment, job instability, misunderstanding of colleagues or employers, and work overload.
Based on the literature and the conducted research, we have developed suggestions on how to better integrate a person from the case study into the workplace, which might be helpful for people that take care of her employment. Suggestions may also be useful for all those who offer employment for adults with mild ID.
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