**1. Introduction**

Participation of people with disabilities in business life has been increasing in many countries in recent years [1–3]. The use of rehabilitation services and the participation in working life as active producers have been the main factors in community integration of people with disabilities [2–4]. Developed countries make legal arrangements in this area to enable people with disabilities to gain profession. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

emphasizes that work for people with disabilities is a right, not just a social participation. The United Nations has also taken a major step in recent years, placing 'work' in the basic rights of people with disabilities and obliging employer to prepare accommodation that is compatible with the employee's needs [5].

The above factors are agreed with the employer and the employee to form the action plan. This is a dynamic planner that can be changed according to the progress. The plan can con-

Employment of People with Disabilities and Ergonomic Risk Factors at Workplace

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There are personal and programmed facilitators and barriers in the participation of people with disabilities in their working life [12, 13]. The interaction between these facilitators and barriers constitutes the personal economy of energy and resource [12, 13]. As the barriers increase, the resources within the personal economy decrease [12]. The person should either give decreasing

The personal factors that are barriers to the working life of people with disabilities are secondary conditions such as pain, fatigue, mobility change, depression, change in perception [12, 14], change in vision, change in bowel and bladder control [12]. Personal factors which are related to disability or not, such as education level, social support status and self-esteem, may also be barriers [6, 13, 14]. People with disabilities who return home without working have stated that secondary conditions have worsened; that no energy is left to participate in the family and social life; that they are stuck between work, financial income and health status; and that they lose from non-work-related quality of life [13, 15, 16]. As a result, the interaction of these secondary conditions with social and environmental barriers negatively affects the economy.

Social and environmental factors alone can also be barriers to the working lives of people with disabilities [6, 12]. Factors such as the lack of a general healthcare coverage and the inability to transfer one's health coverage when going into another work are social barriers [12]. As environmental factors, we can count the barriers when reaching the workplace and all the barriers that prevent mobility at workplace [13]. Inaccessible toilets, pavements and unreachable

It is very important that a person with a disability is able to continue to work or to arrange a suitable place for a new job. In each country, compulsory laws must be enforced to plan and implement a suitable settlement for the employee's needs. Thus, the barriers that may arise in the working life should be tried to be reduced to a minimum. Such problems in the employment of people with disabilities are accompanied by the risk of social exclusion and poverty [6]. Resolving the problems in employment helps participation of disabled people and their families in productive life, as well as it is the only way to increase independence and quality of life [6].

Vocational rehabilitation is a process that helps someone to overcome the barriers when beginning to work, continuing to work, or returning to work after any accident, illness, or disorder [6, 11]. This process consists of a flexible set of applications that takes shape from

personal source to work or transfer the source into family and social life [12, 13].

computer tables are among the environmental barriers [6, 12–14].

**2.2. The importance of vocational rehabilitation in people with disabilities**

tinue until he or she returns to work [9].

**2. Employment of people with disabilities**

**2.1. Barriers to employment of people with disabilities**

The International Labour Organization (ILO) states that all persons with disabilities are entitled to vocational rehabilitation, employment and progress at work, regardless of the type of disability and the level of disability [6, 7]. It has been scientifically proven that if people with disabilities are given the opportunity to develop and use their working capacity, they can be as successful as those who do not have any disabilities, and nowadays the most rational way of helping people with disabilities is to provide them with profession and work [1, 4, 6, 8, 9]. Thus, instead of being dependent on others, they will be able to earn an income and perceive themselves as persons who are productive, efficient and economic contributors [2, 3, 6].

The chance of a permanent or temporary physical or psychological discomfort during the life of an employee is 20% [9]. This disturbance can change the functional capacity of the person [9]. An acquired physical disability may cause a person to change jobs or to continue existing work with assistive devices and adaptations [10]. However, it may not always be enough to find a suitable workplace and to adapt the individual to work independently [1]. It is necessary to evaluate the person's ability to continue to work over a long period of time [1]. Some jobs can cause a person's physical condition to deteriorate, which leads to an increase the level of disability both at work and during daily life [1].

People who are permanently or temporarily disappeared from work after a disease or accident can receive financial support for a period of time [9]. Social security institutions, health councils and insurers evaluate the person's functional capacity to determine the person's ability to return to work [9–11]. Job losses due to the loss of working capacity of individuals cause social and economic consequences for both the person and the society [1, 6, 11]. Especially, long-term job losses are costly for countries [1]. Therefore, efforts are being made to minimize the loss of work that can occur through the provision of work security and the measurement of risks [1]. Many countries work on the vocational rehabilitation programs for workers who have lost their working capacity irreversibly, making them to enter the economic arena again [11].

The criteria for returning to work for an employee established by a rehabilitation team in the case of an accident or illness are as follows [9]:


The above factors are agreed with the employer and the employee to form the action plan. This is a dynamic planner that can be changed according to the progress. The plan can continue until he or she returns to work [9].
