China News Service, Shanghai, December 3rd (Xie Mengyuan) December 3rd is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and "employment" is also an important part of life for persons with disabilities.

Yang Jian is a 24-year-old person with cerebral palsy. He has received complete compulsory education and obtained a bachelor's degree. However, as a disabled person, his job search was not smooth, and his initial application results were not satisfactory.

He thought about starting a business and opening a small shop. "Finally, I received an invitation to come to Shanghai to work with them. They said that there are many CP partners like me (cp means cerebral palsy, referred to as cerebral palsy, the same below)." Now He has been working in an agricultural technology company for a whole year. "My position is a scientific research assistant, helping the supervisor to record data and make analysis conclusions. The happiest thing is that a project I am in charge of has also achieved some results."

　　But not all disabled people have received higher education like Yang Jian, and it is not easy for them to get a job.

According to Chen Dongyuan, Director of the Employment and Education Department of the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Federation, due to physical disadvantages and restrictions on specific positions such as physical strength, the overall employability of the disabled is not strong, and the overall education level is not high, so employment Relatively narrow.

　　It is reported that about 600,000 people in Shanghai hold disability certificates.

About 130,000 of them belong to the working-age group. Excluding early retirement and severe disabilities that cannot be employed, nearly 2,000 people are currently registered as unemployed.

　　Wang Fang lives with seven young people with cerebral palsy in the village of Xuanqiao Town, Shanghai, looking for employment opportunities while doing rehabilitation studies.

Wang Fang is the director of the Anqi Care Public Welfare Fund of the China Social Assistance Foundation. She led the team and launched the "Baixin Youth Program" project with the partner organization of the Cerebral Palsy Network, which is dedicated to the development of vocational education for youth with cerebral palsy. "I have been working in services for the disabled for 20 years. I am deeply aware that this group is like a forgotten treasure trove. For a disabled person, being able to support himself is so important to him and his family. At the same time, I also deeply feel that this group is a very valuable and huge human resource.”

Photographic work "Walking Aid" Under the guidance of Li Shuo, photo courtesy of Su Zuyu Wang Fang, who looks up at the world

　　The Baixin Youth Program has a "Paixin Classroom" that provides practical, targeted and professional vocational skills training and activities.

According to Zhu Yang, the person in charge of the online classroom project, there are more than 80 young people participating in the program. The courses currently offered are divided into professional skills, comprehensive literacy and career planning.

She repeatedly emphasized: "The meaning of rehabilitation is to return to society, and employment is an important part of returning to society. Don't just focus on the word CP, we treat him as a young man, and hope to bring out more of this group through employment." possibility."

　　The ability of CP youth is beyond the expectation of Li Shuo, a teacher who teaches audio-visual language and video editing courses: "I didn't expect too much when I was teaching. Some people may even have difficulty typing, and it will be slow to operate the computer, let alone Talk about doing some fine editing. But something the kids created caught my eye."

　　Different from Li Shuo's teaching of professional skills, Wang Qing's general communication course and Zhou Ming's applied psychology course belong to comprehensive literacy training.

Wang Qing has taught communication courses for more than 20 years, but she has paid unprecedented attention to preparing lessons for CP youths, "I was moved when I saw them online for the first time. Although they lack social experience, they are serious and persistent in life; although The communication surface is so narrow that the cognition is much thinner than that of their peers, but you can feel the huge emotional power lurking in their hearts."

　　Zhou Ming has many "labels", one of which is a psychological counselor.

Talking about the professor's applied psychology, she believes that this course plays the role of anchor and shock absorber on the road of CP youth employment, "If the emotions are too big, it is difficult to work more stably. We must first check, Let them discover the limitations of their thinking and the real needs hidden behind their emotions, and then do emotional externalization and emotional management. Stable emotions and the ability to self-regulate emotions are one of the necessary conditions for success in the workplace.”

　　So what happens when CP youths are fully prepared?

Where can they go?

　　Chen Dongyuan believes that in recent years, Shanghai has shown a trend of increasing demand for new types of employment and high-level employment in the recruitment of disabled people. It is said that there are "three cups of coffee" in Shanghai, the first cup is DreamWorks Coffee, the second cup is Bear Claw Coffee, and the third cup is Starbucks, these three cups of coffee can reflect a relatively new and lively way of employment."

　　The DreamWorks Coffee Bar he mentioned is the first coffee shop in Shanghai that provides supported employment for young people with mental disabilities. Except for the store manager, other employees are from Pudong New Area Supplementary School. The work includes welcoming guests, cash register, making coffee... …Wang Ying, the principal of the supplementary school in Pudong New Area, believes that this is more to provide a kind of social communication, social integration, and social rehabilitation for these mentally handicapped youths. “Some children go back home after graduation and lose their good integration with society. After one year, I found that his abilities in all aspects have regressed like a cliff." At the same time, she believes that this kind of integration is a "win-win", and the simplicity, kindness, honesty and seriousness of special children have also won more respect, tolerance and acceptance.

　　Chen Dongyuan found that many companies' tolerance for disabled groups has also increased significantly.

Starbucks' sign language store, known as the "quietest" Starbucks, mainly recruits for hearing-impaired groups.

As of November 2022, Starbucks has nearly 450 disabled employees, including nearly 80 in Shanghai. They are all professional baristas with an average working experience of more than 4 years.

In addition to creating employment opportunities and integrating sign language elements in store design to achieve barrier-free communication, Starbucks also launched the "Exhibition Heart Plan-Integrated Employment Promotion for Mental Disabilities" project in 2021.

The project carries out three-year funding activities for young people with mental disabilities.

By building a full-chain employment service system for mentally handicapped people, optimizing their support system before and after employment, laying the foundation for the integration and sustainable employment of this group.

　　Employment is the first step for disabled people to integrate into society. Chen Dongyuan said that the core of future employment promotion by the Federation of Disabled Persons is to continue to improve the focus on decentralized and proportionate employment, centralized employment, auxiliary employment, flexible employment, and the promotion of entrepreneurship for disabled people. A diversified employment system for the disabled supplemented by other support methods.

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