Working possibilities of physically handicapped persons in locality Prague

My thesis focuses on the possibility of employing handicapped people in the Prague region. My partial goal was to identify supporting and risk factors that affect the employment of these people and describe their experience with job opportunities. In the theoretical portion of my thesis, I describe the most common types of disabilities, the types of education with a vocational focus and supportive means for employing these people. The final part of the theoretical portion is dedicated to the importance of work to a handicapped person and the causes of its marginalisation. The practical portion of my thesis is based on case studies. The survey group was comprised of four handicapped people who have lived and worked in the Prague Region on a long-term basis. Data was obtained via semi-structured in-depth interviews that took place in Prague during March. The other portion of my research was a secondary analysis of data on economic activities of handicapped people, mainly obtained from the Czech Statistical Office. The results show that handicapped people have sufficient knowledge of the advantages they bring to potential employers and do not hesitate to point them out during job interviews. On the other hand, the level of knowledge of alternative job opportunities is greater in handicapped people under 30. Factors that would help a prospective handicapped candidate be offered a job include a higher degree of education and greater language skills, programmes focused on employing handicapped people, properly selected jobs and education in common types of schools. The risk factors of hiring a handicapped person include a slow work pace and insufficient knowledge by employers and co-workers, a lack of handicapped access on public transportation and in buildings, long-term therapy stays in health spas, weather affecting the ability to get to work and the diminished opportunities for self-fulfilment and growth on the secondary labour market