Remarks from Taskforce on Assurance for Families with Persons with Disabilities Press Conference
Mr Shawn Huang, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower, Enabling Village
- Good afternoon.
- Over the course of the Taskforce, we spent a lot of time engaging very deeply with persons with disabilities (PwDs), their families, employers, educators, job coaches, and multiple stakeholders. We truly want to understand what their hopes and dreams for the future are, and what are the critical obstacles they are facing in their daily lives, not just from the employment perspective, but throughout their careers, and throughout their entire lives.
- Many of them express this, not just their families, but also the persons with disabilities, that they want to feel and believe that they can gain confidence, be able to contribute to the community, and more importantly, have the opportunity to build skills that can be developed over time. Because being employed and being able to do a single task, is just one sliver of the point. But how the employers work with their PwDs employees, together with their co-workers, creates a conducive environment for them to gain skills over time and have a meaningful career. This is how we talk about progressive capabilities. It is not just jobs placement.
- However, it is not just that. I think our philosophy and our mission goes above and beyond. That is why in today’s recommendations, you will be able to see that the Taskforce wants to do a lot more to support, not just the employees, the PwDs, but also support the employers in some of their recruitment and training.
- Many of the employers actually express that they are committed to want to do more and they believe in diversity. They believe in doing more for the PwDs community, and they believe they bring far greater value. They asked about how do their staff integrate with one another? How do they get their teams educated and on board? How do they communicate? How can they make tweaks and adjustments to their workplaces and enhancements to their workplaces to make it more conducive for them, and for the co-workers?
- That’s where the Government will come and step in as well, to try to incentivise, to provide grants and support as well, to help employers move forward.
- One of the key recommendations that we have also announced is a dedicated Employment Support Office (ESO). The ESO is a one-stop shop where PwDs employees are able to get career advisory, job placements, understand their strengths and limitations, and how they can do better. ESO is also a one-stop shop for employers to then better engage with their PwDs employees, to think about how they can job redesign, how they can access grants, incentives and programmes, train their employees, expand accessibility to some of the skills upgrading programmes, and be aware of the subsidies that can support them.
- In addition, we are also enhancing the Enabling Employment Credit, and also the new Enabling Employment Grant - to make grant application easier and more accessible and understandable for both employers and PwDs employees. This is where we really want to drive.
- We want to support PwDs throughout the different stages in life, to bring purpose and meaning as well. All of us, with the different stakeholders collectively, are putting effort, nudging here and there, and making some adjustments and leaning forward to be a little more compassionate.
- 在工作小组开展工作的过程中，我们和残障人士和他们的家人交流，也和雇主、学校和社区伙伴对话。我们希望了解他们最关心什么、最希望看到的改变是什么，以及他们在日常生活中面对的实际挑战。
- 当中有一个信息非常清晰，那就是就业。对很多残障人士来说，一份工作不仅是收入来源，而是关系到他们能否建立自信、发挥他们的能力，更好地融入社会。正所谓天生我材必有用，每个人都有能力做出一些贡献。关键的是，我们要创造更多的就业机会，让残障人士发挥所长。因此，工作小组提出的许多建议，最终就是加强包容性就业。
- 这些建议将帮助残障人士提升就业准备度和技能，更顺利地适应职场。与此同时，我们也希望为雇主提供更清晰的指导、更完善的资源和资金支持，以及相关培训，让他们更有信心聘请和培养残障员工。我也希望能鼓励雇主，从聘用一个残障人士，到聘请更多。
- 千里之行，始于足下。所以雇主有了这些聘请残障人士的经历和信心，就可能有机会创造出更多的就业机会。
- 不过，创造更多就业机会，不能只靠政府。
- 家庭、雇主和社区都扮演非常重要角色。家人的鼓励、雇主愿意给予机会，以及社会大众的理解和接纳，都不可或缺。
- 只有大家共同努力，政府、家庭、企业和社会一起发挥作用，我们才能创造一个让残障人士充分发挥所长、实现抱负的环境。
- 谢谢大家。