Employment of people with intellectual disabilities in an ordinary work environment is extremely important because it is often their only path to social inclusion. Employment is their source of personal satisfaction and a way to reassure them that they can take part in and build the community which, in turn, contributes to their personal growth.
People involved in supported employment get more opportunities for developing friendly relations with people without intellectual disabilities. Nevertheless, many authors find that they can rarely socialise with their co-workers during lunch breaks because they normally work fewer hours. Although people with intellectual disabilities engaged in supported employment are more satisfied than those working in sheltered workshops, their level of social inclusion is lower than expected. Foreign research on social inclusion in supported employment and sheltered workshops revealed different findings, which is why I looked into the issue in our social environment.
The empirical part of the thesis contains a qualitative analysis exploring factors of social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in supported employment, sheltered workshops or in domestic environment. I focused on the following factors: well-being in the workplace, communication and relations with co-workers, a sense of belonging and satisfaction with work, social skills, socialisation with friends, spare time activities.
Data was collected through semi-structured open-ended interviews and analysed using the qualitative research method.
The research findings indicate that people with intellectual disabilities are integrated in supported employment and that they have a sense of belonging to their work environment. Their mentors in companies are satisfied with their performance of tasks and find that they are scrupulous and enthusiastic workers. Our findings suggest that people with mental disabilities are happy to work in an ordinary work environment. The research also revealed a number of factors promoting as well as discouraging their involvement in supported employment. It transpired that cooperation between sheltered workshops and companies providing employment is very important. Our findings will help improve the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in supported employment.
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