4 - Hierarchies of Impairment at Work in the Regulation and Response to Sheltered Work

Summary

The CRPD recognises that the measures that are appropriate for one category and severity of impairment may not be appropriate for others. This leads to substantial challenges for crafting regulatory options that support the most vulnerable people in the disability community, without holding back those who are more able, as well as not adopting models which enable those who can become highly competitive in the open labour market to do so at the expense of those who cannot. These policy challenges are being experienced when considering the right to work and the sheltered work debate. In 1955, the ILO issued a recommendation that called for the adoption of sheltered work arrangements for workers “who cannot be made fit for ordinary competitive employment … for those disabled persons who, for physical, psychological or geographical reasons, cannot travel regularly to and from work.”[1] The regulation of ability diversity at work has substantially shifted over the last few decades and, as analysed in this chapter, there has been considerable pressure inside and outside the disability community to close sheltered workshops.