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People with disabilities in Turkey. Seyhan Fırat.
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People with disabilities in Turkey Seyhan Fırat
In Turkey, according to Statistics Institute of Turkey (www.tuik.gov.tr) figures, there are about 8.5 million people with different physical and mental disabilities which count approximately 12.29% of the total population. However, 45 % of these people have only primary education that makes them highly vulnerable towards unemployment. 52.5 % are not covered by any social security system. 79 % of disabled people are unemployed although mean age of disabled people is 33 which means most of them are young and in working age. Most of the employed disabled people are working within public sector. This means, private sector managers have to be informed and trained to employ more disabled people.
12.29% of total population in Turkey is disabled. This contributes to approximately 8.5 million persons with disabilities.
12.69%of the urban population is disabled while this rate is 11.67% in rural areas where some essential service are difficult to provide.
Education • For the population with physical, visual, hearing, speech and intellectual impairment, 40.97% are graduated from primary school, 5.64% from secondary school, 6.90% from high school and only 2.42% have a university degree. These rates are much less in rural areas compared to urbanis better for the population having chronic illnesses, and decreases considerably towards university level. The situation ofwhich 4,23% has university degree.
Employment I • According to the recent figures announced by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the work power rate of persons with disabilities over age 12 is 22.19%, and 77.81 % is not involved in any work power. By September 2004, 31,189 persons with disabilities have applied the Public Employment Organization of Turkey (ISKUR) and 12,920 were employed. However, 75% of the Persons with Disabilities registered at the ISKUR do not have any occupation. In this respect, there is profound need for vocational rehabilitation in order to increase employment of persons with disabilities with adequate level of knowledge and skills in appropriate occupations.
Employment II • ISKUR has conducted 465 courses until today, where 6,402 persons with disabilities were trained for vocational education and rehabilitation. However, it is another fact that, despite the 47,000 quota in the public sector, only 9,000 is currently employed. • Various projects are in progress along with increased legal enforcement toward increased employment of persons with disabilities. One of the steps taken has been the increased percentage from 3% to 4% as compulsory to employ persons with disabilities in the public sector. This value is 3% for the private sector.
Employment III • Private sector organizations that employ over their quota are encouraged by payments of insurance Incentives by the Treasury. This is one of the steps taken toward supporting employers through subsidies rather than the existing quota-penalty system. Ways and means of encouraging employment of persons with disabilities still require legislative and economic tools to develop. • Currently, according to the ISKUR records, the number of persons with disabilities in line for employment is around 74,000. 15% of this amount is women. Private sector quota is 20,781.
Employment IVand Social Security • ISKUR runs the vocational Rehabilitation Center in Ankara, where courses are conducted with maximum duration of 6 months. Courses are given by the experts from Hacettepe University High school of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. Persons with disabilities are trained for development of skills together with pertinent behavioral and physical treatment. • According to the records of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, 60.28% of persons with disabilities in Turkey have access to social security (directlyandindirectly). Social security institutions mainly finance rehabilitation services.
Institutional Framework –Responsibilities and Main Activities
