Why Start-Ups Are Hiring India’s Disabled Workers

Aidan Bergin 14305881

Discrimination based on disability: https://www.ft.com/content/ee83b842-f3ba-11e7-88f7-5465a6ce1a00 

Why start-ups are hiring India’s disabled workers

Working as a disabled person in India is challenging. Disabled people are not given the chance they deserve and often do not receive an education and are not considered for jobs. In India 2% (27m people) of the county’s population is disabled (although this is believed to be an underestimation).

However entrepreneurs are starting to give disabled workers hope and the chance to earn a living by recruiting from this untapped workforce. Vindhya, a customer service provider, employs 1300 workers and 60% of these have some form of a disability. This is having a knock on affect with their customers, who are now looking at people with disabilities as a resource. The lack of professional openings for people with disabilities is overwhelming as 90% of Vindhya’s employees never had a job before.

New laws have been introduced to increase the number of disabled workers in public-sector jobs from 3% to 4%. However the issue remains enforcing the laws as when they were first introduced in 1970 they were not adhered to.

Access to education poses an issue for those with disability, with many having to go to special schools or abroad to get an education. Disabled people are stereotyped as being unable to manage the work instead of focusing on their drive an ambition to learn.

One of India’s largest banks refused to give a loan to a start-up business that was employing disabled workers on the basis that it was ‘’unviable, because you’re hiring disabled people’’. Lemon Tree Hotels employs 500 disabled workers out of 4600 and finds no compromise in quality.

The best way to break down the stigma and prejudice with disabled workers is by bringing them into contact with the public. Seeing disabled employees preforming the same tasks as everyone else, just like everyone else will change our view of these capable workers.

Opinion:

In my opinion discrimination based on disability is a big issue in society, where people assume that these workers aren’t capable of preforming the same tasks as those without disabilities and as efficiently as those without disabilities. By placing disabled workers in positions visible to the public I think that it will help break down this prejudice. Despite laws protecting disabled workers, I do not believe that disabled workers are given the same amount of opportunities as others, in particular in developing countries where they have little rights.

Words: 392

Gender Discrimination: https://www.ft.com/content/8941c97e-fd1f-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a 

Half of trans employees in UK hide LGBT status at work

In a survey conducted by Stonewall it found that half of transgender employees in the UK conceal the fact that they are LGBT+ as they believed that they would be discriminated against. Furthermore one in eight transgender employees say that they have been physically attacked by people they come into contact with at work, be it co-workers or customers. Of those interviewed many noted malice and torment in the work place leading them to leave their jobs, or worse self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

Sexual orientation issues are omnipresent and have been dealt with far more regularly whereas companies are beginning to look at transgender inclusion far later. The current situation for transgender employees in the UK is not pleasant. Older generations are less accepting of transgender gender workers, while younger transgender people’s co-workers tend to be more open. In order to overcome the discrimination faced by transgender employees the public need more education.

As of the 2010 Equality Act companies now have a legal obligation to transgender workers. In politics the Labour party includes self-identifying transgender women as part of the all-women shortlist