Project
For people with intellectual disabilities, it is not obvious that they will have a real job. The internships offered at most special education high schools are in daily activities with different specializations, and after high school, most people start in daily activities.
According to a report from the National Board of Health and Welfare (2019), very few people move on from daily activity programs to work or studies, even though that should be the goal of the service.
Daily activity programs are the most common LSS intervention, and according to the report, only 0.2 percent of the 33,800 people in these programs transitioned to paid employment lasting at least two years. This shows that people with intellectual disabilities find it very difficult to get jobs in our country.
Even when there is a desire to hire someone with a disability, there is a significant lack of knowledge, and many don’t know how to navigate contacts with the Public Employment Service, the Social Insurance Agency, and daily activity providers.
With the help of project funding from Allmänna arvsfonden, we want to make it possible for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities to get jobs. Some individuals might need to combine daily activity programs with a real job, which requires collaboration between LSS services, the Social Insurance Agency, and the Public Employment Service.
The goal is for people with intellectual disabilities to enter the open labor market and for high school students to get internships in the workplace.
With this website, we have created a digital meeting place where the target group—whom we call colleagues—and employers can meet. Participants are matched with a workplace for an internship or employment with relevant support. A group of participants is active and followed throughout the project. Through them, concrete examples will be shared to show how it can work for different individuals and employers. After the project, the meeting place will continue to be run within the association. There, the target group and employers across the country will meet to create internship and job opportunities. Parts of the operations will be run on a non-profit basis, while other parts will be funded through fees, sponsors, and advertisers.
