Hürth – The state association Lebenshilfe NRW is appealing to the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia next Friday in the Bundesrat to approve the law to promote an inclusive labor market.
“North Rhine-Westphalia must not be among the countries that stand in the way of inclusive development on the labor market. The present law offers an opportunity to create important and positive developments for people with disabilities to better participate in the labor market, as has long been demanded by life support and other associations. Germany still has major deficits in the implementation of the UN Disability Rights Convention in the area of work. It is still easy to deny people with disabilities participation in the labor market. The law that is being voted on is intended to change that and is finally taking a step in the right direction. It absolutely has to be adopted without any changes,” says Bärbel Brüning, state manager of Lebenshilfe NRW.
Despite different programs and initiatives, people with disabilities still do not benefit from the positive developments on the labor market. Experts believe that the shortage of skilled workers offers an opportunity for people with disabilities. Nevertheless, every fourth employer in Germany does not employ a single severely disabled person, because the currently low compensatory levy makes it far too easy for them not to hire people with disabilities. That will at least significantly improve the law that is being voted on.
The state association Lebenshilfe NRW
The 73 North Rhine-Westphalian local and district associations of Lebenshilfe with around 18,000 members are sponsors or co-sponsors of numerous services, facilities and offers for people with intellectual disabilities. They are all members of the North Rhine-Westphalian state association, Lebenshilfe Nordrhein-Westfalen eV In early support centres, (mostly inclusive) day-care centres, schools and day-care centres, workshops, further training and advice centres, sports, games and leisure projects, special forms of living and ambulatory supported living , family relief services and many other offers are promoted, supported and accompanied in NRW by the Lebenshilfe over 30,000 children, young people and adults by over 16,000 employees of the institutions.
Full-time and voluntary employees of the Lebenshilfe are entrusted with these tasks. Relatives of people with disabilities can exchange information in parent groups, people with disabilities themselves work on boards and other bodies of the Lebenshilfe.