They can do anything: how do people with disabilities get a job
According to the Ministry of Labor, only a third of able—bodied people with disabilities are employed in Russia, which is about 1.2 million people out of 4.3 million. Experts emphasize that the human resources potential of people with disabilities is practically not realized for various reasons. And many of those who could work have been declared legally incompetent. Izvestia has collected several stories where people with disabilities work despite all obstacles and bring real benefits.
Work with your eyes
Denis Bartosh is 26 years old. He's a programmer. Graduated from college with honors. It seems to be a standard and very successful story, but I haven't been able to find a job for more than five years.
The fact is that Denis hardly speaks and does not use his hands well: he has a severe form of musculoskeletal disorders and serious impairments in the development of speech and writing - dysarthria, dyslexia and dysgraphia.
Denis Bartosh
For the last nine months, he has been working for Sloplast, a company that manufactures HPL panels. His responsibilities include creating and maintaining databases and working with documents. Right now, he is performing a marketing analysis of the HPL market.
Maria Volkova, HRD at Sloplast, said that Denis Bartosh works remotely, but works on an equal basis with other employees. Its main advantages are consistency, thoroughness and methodicality.
— Now there is a wide range of tasks that we can solve with Denis' help. We connect it to help different departments. He is a particularly valuable employee, because he is always very attentive and responsible to his work," Maria Volkova told Izvestia.
Denis Bartosh
An eytreker helps Denis to work. This device detects the movement of the eyes, analyzes which parts of the screen and how the person's gaze is fixed. The built-in speech synthesizer at the same time voices the texts.
Denis Bartosh joined the Sloplast company thanks to the OANO "Center". It is a non-profit organization that educates children with severe disorders of the musculoskeletal system and related health disorders: speech, vision, hearing. The Center has been looking for a suitable employer for Denis for several months.
Olga Blagodatskikh, director of the organization, notes that finding a job is very difficult for them: a diploma often does not guarantee recognition of an employee's capabilities, and motor disorders frighten employers. There is also prejudice about the possibilities of workers with cerebral palsy: many even refuse to look at a resume and understand what a person can do. Therefore, Denis's case is still unique in many ways.
A musician with an eytracker
Denis Bartosh is currently writing his own version of the speech synthesizer. He dreams of making a free and accessible version of the program for people with cerebral palsy. He puts aside part of his salary to pay for the work of a programmer who will help him. He is also looking for an investor for another project, the Ksusha smart system, an innovative wheelchair controlled by hands and/or eye movement.
— Of course, I need a little more time to work, because it takes much longer with my eyes to do what others do with their hands, — Denis Bartosh told Izvestia. — But technological progress is vital for me. He helps me realize myself as a person and as a specialist. Technology replaces speech, and eye tracking replaces handwork.
Konstantin Salamatin
Thanks to technology, you can be anyone. This is shown by the example of Konstantin Salamatin, a ward of the St. Petersburg charitable public organization Perspektivy. He has a very severe form of cerebral palsy, he is forced to move in a wheelchair, which has been specially adapted to his individual characteristics. Due to severe spasticity of the arms and legs, the Bone's movement is limited, and he is fixed in his wheelchair. But this does not prevent him from remaining an active person, says Evgenia Sokolovskaya, director of public relations at the charity organization.
Konstantin had a very strong desire to create, communicate his ideas and be understood. He was one of the first to start studying in a computer lab opened by Perspektivy on the territory of a neuropsychiatric boarding school. The teachers noticed his extreme interest in music. And soon he was writing his own tracks under the pseudonym Solomon Keys, and then he started creating paintings.
— First, with the help of a stylus attached to my head, which I pressed on the keyboard buttons. When Kostya moved to the Perspektivy assisted living facility, he and a social worker mastered an eyetracker. This allowed Kostya to get a job — he is employed in a ceramic workshop, keeps records and orders materials, — said Evgeniya Sokolovskaya.
Konstantin is currently releasing music albums, and exhibitions of his digital works are being held in leading galleries.
Remote access is a problem
But people with serious health problems need help finding employment. It is difficult to find a job on their own, even for those who do not have speech problems.
Dmitry Filin has Duchenne myodystrophy. With this disease, all the muscles in the body gradually weaken. Nevertheless, he now works as a key partner search manager at GO Expert. However, he had been looking for his dream job for almost three years. According to him, it was difficult psychologically — for a very long time and unsuccessfully Dmitry tried to find a remote job and, possibly, not for a full-time job.
"Finding a job on the Internet was very complicated by the fact that I had to deal with a very large number of questionable and even frankly fraudulent offers," he told Izvestia. — People like me, being in search of a job, can find themselves in a rather vulnerable position.
Dmitry Filin
According to him, such a long and fruitless job search was difficult to endure psychologically. Small part-time jobs related to graphic design did not bring satisfaction.: it was important for him to work constantly and be useful.
Moreover, Dmitry says, he did not notice any concerns on the part of employers precisely because of his physical characteristics. Oddly enough, the main problem was his desire to work remotely.
The House with a Lighthouse charitable foundation helped out, namely the case managers of this organization, who help the wards understand specific situations.
— To be honest, at first I was rather skeptical about this. But they interviewed me, discussed my skills, goals, and what I would like to achieve. And at the end of August, I was able to get a job at a consulting organization," says Dmitry Filin.
"Boarding schools can do it too"
Things get more complicated when it comes to people who are incapacitated. Not everyone living with this status is really unable to work. Thus, according to Olga Blagodatskikh, at least 20% of diagnoses of "mental retardation" with cerebral palsy are made incorrectly.
Coordinator of the project "Employment" of the NGO "Service for the Protection of Rights" (works in the Nizhny Novgorod region with the support of the project "Region of Care" of the Popular Front) Irina Malyaeva says that it is especially difficult to employ those who live in neuropsychiatric boarding schools. In particular, because PSNI employees often do not believe in their real abilities.
— There are difficulties in the labor market: there are very few professions that are adapted to the employment of people with mental disorders, — says the interlocutor of Izvestia.
According to the data of the Human Rights Protection Service, 4% of people living in boarding schools in the Nizhny Novgorod region are employed. In Russia as a whole, this figure is even lower — only 2%. In fact, they work much more: wards of boarding schools voluntarily help in the PSNI, often performing the duties of full-time employees, but they are not officially employed.
Ekaterina Kantinova, director of the ANO Human Rights Protection Service, says: when such "assistants" were offered official employment, boarding schools met them halfway. Currently, there are about 300 residents in the Nizhny Novgorod region who officially work. But many of the guys admitted that they would like to work outside of boarding schools.
That's when the "Employment" project appeared. PSNI's wards are looking for suitable vacancies, help in creating resumes, and negotiate with potential employers. The main difficulty so far is the fears of company owners.
— There is a clear prejudice in society that only people who are completely healthy can work, including mentally. And these fears become a barrier to hiring a person," says Ekaterina Kantinova.
However, she explains, such people are not dangerous and aggressive, but rather, on the contrary, trusting and vulnerable. They need slightly different conditions for productive work, while many of them are not tired of monotonous work, they can safely perform routine tasks and enjoy the opportunity not to sit around.
One of the first participants of the project is Leonid from Avtozavodsky PNI (Nizhny Novgorod). He used to work in the kitchen at the boarding school, but now he is a distributor of goods in the Auchan hypermarket. The support from the current employees of the company helped him a lot — they prompted and encouraged him a lot. And now they appreciate his diligence.
"I wanted people to see that I can do more than just work at a boarding school. I can do it outside of it. So that they would accept me into their society and understand that boarding schools can do the same," Leonid said shortly after his employment.
Capable incapacitated
There are completely unique people in different PNIs across the country. Alexey Sakhnov lives in one of the St. Petersburg neuropsychiatric boarding schools, he is incapacitated. But he's a recognized artist. Soon he will become one of the central figures of the large-scale project "Exhibition about Tree Stumps", which will open at the Museum of Moscow in early December this year.
—Alexey is represented there as the second artist along with Yuri Kozyrev, a world—class photographer and artist, multiple winner of the World Press Photo international photo award," Ekaterina Taranchenko, executive director of the Perspektivy charity organization, told Izvestia. — Kozyrev himself, working on this topic, immediately drew attention to Alexey and his art and now calls him his co-author.
Alexey Sakhnov
Alexey Sakhnov has a long track record: he co-authored a project with an artist and photographer from the Netherlands; his works are in storage at the Russian Museum; he participated in exhibitions at contemporary art galleries. Alexey works as a graphic artist, designs models from different materials, and has recently become interested in photography and video art.
— He literally devotes all his time to creation — he searches for materials, shoots, draws, makes objects. It is obvious that Lyosha is an artist whose essence is inseparable from creativity," Ekaterina Taranchenko said.
Alexey Sakhnov has a psychiatric diagnosis, he is hard of hearing, and communicates mainly with gestures and facial expressions — and this is not a classic sign language, but his own system of signs.
— Nevertheless, he is perfectly adapted: he controls his behavior, takes care of himself, his belongings, and copes with everyday life. At the level at which he lives in a boarding school, he is an absolutely independent person," Ekaterina Taranchenko noted.
The work of Alexey Sakhnov
Alexey is fully aware of himself as an artist: he loves attention to his work, loves to exhibit and participate in residencies. He is demanding about the conditions of his work: he has special work clothes, always asks for materials, equipment, tries new things. He has his own handwriting and style.
But due to the fact that Alexey is recognized as legally incompetent and lives in the PSNI, he cannot independently manage money, conclude contracts and receive royalties. All the documents for him are signed by the director of the boarding school, who has hundreds of wards. Given his interest in his work, Sakhnov could pay for the rent of the apartment himself and the support he needs to adapt to life outside the boarding school. But this is not happening.
— In order to sell paintings or receive remuneration for participation in exhibitions, it is necessary to conclude contracts, determine the cost of works, and register copyrights. It's too complicated and risky for a boarding school. I know of a sufficient number of similar cases where collectors want to buy the works of local artists, but boarding schools refuse to deal for fear of sanctions or inspections," said Ekaterina Taranchenko.
Alexey Sakhnov
So far, a charity organization is helping him with materials, trips, and new equipment, and the PSNI provides a room on the territory of the boarding school, where Perspektiva employees are engaged in creative work with their wards.
— We have been talking for many years about the need for a law on distributed custody. Its essence is that a person can have several guardians: for example, one is responsible for household issues, the other for creative and professional ones. In the case of artists, it could be a trustee who helps to conduct business, arrange participation in exhibitions, conclude contracts, receive royalties and manage them in the interests and at the request of the author himself, says Ekaterina Taranchenko.
The last bill on this issue was rejected, but the community hopes that this idea will be revisited.
Coming back to life
In some cases, the efforts of lawyers and social activists who relieve people with mental disabilities from the label of incapacity help.
This happened to Valery Turulin from the Penza region. He lived in the Moksha orphanage, then in the PSNI, and then ended up in the art estate "New Shores" of the Louis Quarter charity organization. This is the largest assisted living project in the country, where people from rural settlements learn to live independently. There, Valery Turulin was immediately informed that they would try to restore his legal capacity, the first of all the wards of the charity organization.
Valery Turulin
He managed to pass all the tests during the procedure for regaining legal capacity — a month of examination in a psychiatric hospital, a series of trials — and now he is an independent person. And in 2023, Valery got a job at a furniture factory in the village of Bogoslovka, Penza region, has been working there for more than two years and receives a good salary.
"Working with the employment of people with disabilities is always a two—way process," says Sofia Lvova—Belova, Executive Director of the Louis Quarter NGO. — On the one hand, it is important to prepare the children themselves: Not everyone has motivation, discipline, or an understanding of how the working day works. On the other hand, there are employers who, despite their interest, are afraid to hire a person with a disability.
However, experience shows that anything is possible. That is why it is important to build sustainable mechanisms that will make the employment of people with disabilities systemic and large-scale, and not a single exception, emphasizes Sofia Lvova-Belova.
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