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Actions to improve employment prospects of disabled

The following is a list of actions to be taken by the Government in the coming year to improve employment prospects of disabled people:

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The Government will introduce the Disability Discrimination Bill into the Legislative Council in April. The bill will cover a wide range of activities including prohibiting discrimination against disabled people in employment. It will give people with a disability powerful legal weapons to fight for equal opportunities and to fight against discrimination and harassment.

The Government will publish a White Paper on Rehabilitation by the end of May. This will set out a comprehensive statement of Government policy for the development of all its plans for rehabilitation services for the next decade and beyond. An executive summary will be provided to make the paper accessible to a wider audience.

The Government will allocate about $8 million in 1995/96 to expand its educational

to and promotional programme improve public understanding of people with a disability. Of this, $1.9 million will be allocated specifically to promote job opportunities for people with a disability. Programmes will be launched in collaboration with employers associations to achieve the maximum impact.

Two sets of videos with guide books will be produced to strengthen the Government's publicity efforts: one on support services available to employers and the other on work ethics in open employment for employees who have a disability.

Two Assistant Labour Officer I posts will be created to strengthen the staff resources of the Labour Department's Selective Placement Division, which achieved a record 1,414 placements in 1994. The division will aim for no fewer than these in 1995.

The Government will be looking increasingly for ways of matching the skills of disabled people to the specific jobs on offer. The Civil Service Branch, under a pilot scheme, has recruited a number of Office Assistants and Clerical Assistants with a disability. The branch will review the success of the scheme shortly to see whether it can be expanded. Staff of the Selective Placement Division will step up visits to individual employers to gauge more accurately the kind of jobs they need to fill so that training course for the disabled can be adjusted to meet these needs.