2009-03-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all!

Program ENOP symposium 2009 March 26 – 27. Thursday, 26/3

14.00 – 14.15 Opening

14.15 – 15.15: Introduction Fred Zijlstra (University of Maastricht)
“Job design for groups with special needs?”
Demographic developments indicate that there will be a shortage on the labour market, despite the current economic crises. Consequently most European governments are looking at policies to increase the participation on the labour market.
However, this can not be achieved without looking at work (tasks), and how work (tasks) need to be adapted to the possibilities and capabilities of various groups.

15.15 -15.30 Break

15.30 – 16.30: Mr. Henny Mulders, (UWV, The Netherlands)
“Young adults with disabilities – potential and perspectives on work”
UWV is a semi-governmental organization responsible for the administration of social security arrangements. The OESO has recently indicated that the Netherlands is leading in Europe as far as treatment and policies with respect to people with disabilities is concerned. In this contribution Mr. Mulders will give an overview of the Dutch legislation and policies with respect to special needs groups, and will particularly focus on their perspectives on work.

16.30 – 17.00: Discussion and Question and Answer session

Friday, 27/3

9.30 – 10.30: Prof. Frans Nijhuis (University of Maastricht; Dept. of Social Medicine)
Working with a disability - A challenge for the employee and the organization
The right to work for people with disabilities is also an important element of the UN Treaty ‘On the rights of persons with disabilities’ (2007). This means that the society has to make arrangements to support the participation of people with disabilities. The goal of this increasing participation is that a person with a severe disability is able to earn his own income and can be economically independent.
Based on a research among more than 1200 employees with a (severe) disability we detected several strategies to survive in the workplace with their disabilities. The respondents developed various ways to cope with their disabilities in the work situation. Their action strategies can be divided into five categories: individual factors, social working environment, physical working environment, job tasks and organisational environment.
Organizations have to develop internal policies (Disability Management) to support employees with (temporal) disabilities to return to the organization or to stay in the organization. These kind of organizational policies are becoming more important due to the obsolescence of the labour force and therefore higher health risks in the labour force.

10.30 – 10.45 Break

10.45 – 11.45 Dr. Marion Wolff (University Paris Descartes, Paris)
Helping people with autistic spectrum syndrome to get work

Since a few years, some researchers developed a program of professional integration in company for persons with autistic spectrum syndrome. First actions related to this issue were implemented in the school context. Students in psychology accompanied children in the classroom and served as facilitators. Then the project was developed in company for young adults. Coming from this experience success criteria at the level of the company and of the young adults will be presented. The role of ergonomist and work psychologist in this project will also be discussed.
. Dr. Wolff will present results of a specific project.

11.45 – 12.30 Discussion and Question and Answer session.

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch

13.30 – 16.30 afternoon program
The afternoon will also be devoted to this theme, and we would like to use the expertise of the attendants for finding solutions for some of the questions that will be raised during the presentations.