2024-11-18 09:44:00
To bring people with disabilities closer to employment, DuoDays are interesting initiatives. But we could go even further.
Despite notable progressnumerous incentives, recommendations and obligations in recent decades, the unemployment rate currently affects people with disabilities (PSH) almost twice as much. Knowing that representations and other prejudices or discrimination still persists today.
In this contrasting context, one event stands out. It is about « DuoDay ». It is a national event, built over one day, which allows PWD to discover careers in business by forming a duo with a volunteer “valid” professional. Appearing in Ireland in 2008, this initiative has spread to Europe, particularly in France with a seventh edition which has been taking place since 2018, in November, as part of the “European Jobs Week” for PSH. In 2023, 27,613 duos were created and 13,550 employers took part in this booming day.
A rich experience for some…
This original initiative is interesting on several points. On the one hand, it above all allows meeting with others, face-to-face interaction, thus reducing physical distance to better reduce social distance. Because distancing slows down the dynamic and interactional process of social participation, which can lead to disaffiliation or social disqualification. Without understanding, without experiencing the other, hardly any recognition in fine; the PWD then live the experience of denial of reconnaissance.
Empathic awareness and concern emerge in this encounter with the other. It is therefore a question of the duo knowing each other better, but above all for the employer knowing and understanding the PWD. But they are in a perpetual “in between” in which the gaze placed on them is sometimes ambivalent, between attraction and rejection. On this given opportunity, we might as well tip the scales to the right side…
Finally, this one-day unpaid internship can set foot on the path to employmentallow you to develop your network. Only around a quarter of PWD obtained a job or an extended internship at the end of this experience. It’s not nothing… But is it well received by PWD? Is the fleeting time of a meeting the time of PWD?
Reluctance for others…
However, voices are being raised, including those of the first concerned, the PWD. Although the “DuoDay” is very rich, it is nevertheless asymmetrical in its design. It is up to the PSH to come to the employer. A symbolic domination reinforced by the meeting in the workspace of the company or the host structure. However, spaces are not simple decorations, they also condition our ways of being and our behavior.
Jumbled together, we read on social networks that PWD as well as so-called “able-bodied/ neurotypiques » hardly appreciate this unilateral and media link, even if the companies are voluntary and benevolent. The event can be perceived, or even experienced, as infantilizing, disempowering or demonstrative of the good image of the company, etc. From its first edition, the DuoDay initiative has been far from being unanimous. PWD felt like “the intern for a day”, the figurehead of the “inclusive selfie”, that of the “assisted person”… So, “DuoDay, propaganda or opportunity? » A communication operation above all or a lever, among others, revealing the potential of PWD to fight against prejudices and promote their employability?
Another way is possible…
If we consider that social and professional inclusiveness requires a link of reciprocity – in the sense that PWD demand integrate according to their means, and to be included according to their needs – then active and effective participation in these systems must place them in a more egalitarian experience. In other words, if the physical meeting, the face-to-face, the co-experience is an essential lever of awakening to the other and to otherness, the “going towards” of the employer towards the PWD who work is essential. The employer would realize that they are otherwise capable by concretely seeing the adaptations and arrangements that allow a work environment conducive to creativity, individual and collective accomplishment, productivity and performance for all (not just PWD).
This is how some people came up with the “reverse DuoDay”. For illustration, it is up to workers/employers to spend an immersive day with PWD in their work environment, like the « Duo2 » organized over one day by the Fondation des Amis de l’Atelier.
Towards a third way: the “reciprocal DuoDays”
Empathy, concept multidimensional to be used with caution and moderation, can be summed up by the ability to put oneself in the place of others, while knowing that this other is not oneself, to understand what they experience, feel and think. In this sense, the motivation to care about others and then taking a perspective towards PWD requires, for example, key elements in situ: interacting together, observing others et role reversal to share and express feelings.
Here, the idea submitted is not a sort of “live my life”, reversing the roles, nor a unilateral “reverse DuoDay”, but a reciprocal, bilateral, symmetrical DuoDay, over a minimum of 2 days in a row or over a given period. These combined times are longer, but would gain in efficiency by finally judging the PSH not on its shortcomings, but on its skills.
Observing and meeting a PWD in their environment (work or daily life) does not place them in a dominated situation or in an uncomfortable position. It places them in a situation allowing them to understand that if the disability is present, the disability situation, for its part, depends on the one hand, on the environment and the layout of the place of work or life and, on the other hand, from the perspective on the PSH; because the first mirror is the other.
These two factors are inseparable and, depending on the quality of the organization and the mastery of these two meetings, the recognition cursor will oscillate towards the positive or negative side. The right distance therefore requires an effort of reciprocity (going towards and receiving). Moreover, starting the first DuoDay by going to the PSH field will make the second meeting in the company more peaceful (with the same professional, or even another from the same company or the same department), because of the confidence-building on the first date. Knowing that the PSH can be a student, an employee, an entrepreneur, in professional retraining or a worker in YOU ARE.
Meeting each other physically, and doubly so, would allow us to better understand and act at the heart of a real process ofinclusiveness professional, therefore employability and recruitment. In short, inclusiveness is a reciprocal, more horizontal mechanism, which requires two essential and inseparable DuoDays, like the two sides of a coin. Let us not forget, like the psychosociologist Jacques Salomé, that if it is in the shadow of ourselves that we have the most luminous encounterswe must still dare to take a step towards the other, to better take the side step, that of dignity.
1731923374
#reciprocal #DuoDay
– What strategies can be implemented to facilitate understanding and support between able-bodied employees and PWD in the workplace?
Social context, and the potential for adaptation and support within the workplace. This mutual experience can foster a better understanding of the capabilities of PWD and provide insights into how practices can be adapted to create an inclusive environment.
Moreover, this reciprocal approach can dismantle the hierarchical dynamics typically present in such initiatives. By promoting a culture of shared experience and understanding, companies can empower PWD while simultaneously educating able-bodied employees about the nuances and realities of working with individuals with disabilities. Recognizing that inclusivity is a collective effort rather than a one-sided obligation can transform the dialogue around disability in the workplace.
“reciprocal DuoDays” could serve as a significant step towards genuine inclusivity. By establishing a framework where both PWD and employers engage in an exchange of experiences, organizations can cultivate empathy, breakdown stereotypes, and encourage a more inclusive culture that values diversity in all forms. This can ultimately lead to more meaningful employment opportunities for PWD, benefitting both individuals and organizations alike.