A partnership for vocational rehabilitation The All-Russian MS Society (RMSS) sees vocational rehabilitation as the only form of rehabilitation with an investment component in it, since an employed disabled person both invests in his or her personal welfare and contributes to society as a whole.
Between 2004 and 2008, the Samara MS Society (a branch of the All-Russian MS Society) conducted training seminars for people with MS enabling them to work with computers. The society found that among this group, 93% wished to retrain for a new trade.
Ideally, vocational rehabilitation must combine the efforts of a range of healthcare professionals such as psychologists, lawyers, rehabilitation consultants, occupational therapists, vocational physiologists and ergonomists. However, it is not always practical for a person with MS to seek a permanent job. In Russia, the Samara MS Society uses a governmentrun employment service programme. Through this programme, the Samara MS Society employs between 40 and 85 people with MS each year.
The programme works as follows: the employment service has a contract with the employer (in this case, the MS society) in which the government partially covers the disabled person’s wages for a suitable job. After the contract expires, the person can register again with the employment service, but by this time they have often acquired the skills to compete in the relevant job market and do not need the same support.
Voluntary organisations such as MS societies are important in this programme, since these activities meet their objective to retrain people with disabilities.
In addition, these activities help the employment service to play an active role in integrating people with disabilities into society and enable them to create jobs and provide services.
Through this programme, the All-Russian MS Society has successfully developed a department of experts. These experts have been trained to supervise the delivery of disease-modifying drugs and social services in Russia’s regions. The department is currently staffed by 112 people with MS, who are biannually retrained and receive a salary.
Creating a successful work centre
The Fundación Esclerosis Múltiple (FEM) is a non-profit organisation created in Barcelona, Spain, in 1989. At the beginning, the main objectives of the foundation were to raise funds for scientific research and to improve the quality of life of people with MS by creating multidisciplinary rehabilitation centres.
In 1999 the foundation realised that it was very difficult for people with MS to find or maintain a job due to the unpredictable nature of the disease and fears of employing someone with a chronic and disabling disease. For this reason the first Spanish special employment centre for people with MS was created.
Its primary focus is to perform productive work, participate regularly in market operations, and to ensure gainful employment and the provision of personal and social adjustment required by workers with disabilities.
The centre offers its services in three different areas: telemarketing, secretarial services and manual procedures for 150 clients. Currently they employ 80 disabled people. People with MS who work in the centre start by doing simple tasks and, as their training progresses, their job becomes more complex. Meanwhile, if the evolution of the disease requires it, they can do different jobs.
A programme of training has been designed by a team of psychologists from the centre to train the employees to develop working capabilities and to provide them with tools and experience to be able to find an adequate job in ordinary companies.
After ten years of existence FEM are definitely satisfied and the experience has been extremely positive, although not always easy. They can proudly state that their special employment centre is a reference in the marketplace and consequently many physically and sensorially disabled people show an interest in joining the team.
Visit FEM’s website at www.fem.es
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