Situation and participation of society on enforcement of law regarding occupation and employment for persons with disabilities

Dollaporn Phuakkhong¹, Tavee Cheausuwantavee², Tam Jatunam³,
Nipat Ponphai⁴, Kajonpun Suwansomrid⁵, Suksiri Prasomsuk⁶

¹Dollaporn.phu@mahidol.ac.th , ⁶drko@windoeslive.com

Abstract

This survey research aims to study: 1) the knowledge and understanding of the applicable laws or policies on occupation and employment of persons with disabilities and those involved in the current society; 2) the professional realities and experiences of disabled persons; 3) the relationship among the individual's disability, the employment of persons with disabilities and colleagues with knowledge of legal rights; and 4) the attitudes and faith of persons with disabilities throughout the employment process and related policies. The sample of this study consisted of 535 persons with disabilities in the workforce, primary caregivers, employers, colleagues, and organizations. The tools used in the study were a questionnaire and interviews form. The statistics used were frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation statistics are t-test and One-way ANOVA. Qualitative data obtained from interviews with 40 people for comparison and analysis of induction by interpretation decoding.

The results of the study showed that the target groups concerned with knowledge and understanding of the applicable law or the policies of the occupation and employment of persons with disabilities was in the intermediate level. Comparing the level of knowledge and the level of reality experiences of whole aspect of the questions due to general information variables found to be different in each issue of each group were statistically significant at the .05 level. Regarding beliefs and attitudes towards persons with disabilities, the study found that people generally had positive attitudes towards disabled people's potential and perceived their good relationship to colleagues and others.

The suggestions from this study were: 1) the organization or entity related to disability should educate/release the information to persons with disabilities and those related to the awareness of the benefits and protections under the law of occupation and the employment of persons with disabilities thoroughly and continuously 2) Vocational Training for disabled and relevant agencies should be improved in career training to develop disabled workers as skilled workers who meet the demand of the labor market 3) participatory action research should be conducted to identify career and employment issues for recommendation to policy makers to improve the lives of persons with disabilities in Thailand.

Keywords: social participation, law, persons with disabilities, occupation/employment