Professional Activation of the Disabled Persons in the Territorial Cross-Section

The Polish system of vocational rehabilitation works on the basis of the four following forms of participation and employment for people with disabilities: occupational therapy workshops, professional activity facilities, sheltered workshops and the open labor market. Each of these forms may use financial support in form of grants and refunds, which are by law different as to the amount and extent. Expectations differ as well as to the effects of rehabilitation. One can expect the support system will, in a particular way, give priority to creating conditions for effective rehabilitation and work in proportion to the degree of disability and its severity. Do the solutions in place meet these conditions? For 20 years of functioning, the current system has been subject to many changes, especially in the financial area. The current direction of evolution of the system leads to the question about its effectiveness and efficiency both at national level and at the level of voivodships. The purpose of the article is to analyze the effectiveness of the systemic solutions implemented in Poland in the scope of vocational activation of people with disabilities. The analysis conducted at the voivodship level covers assessment of the various effects of actions taking into account the level of unemployment and labor force participation rate of persons with disabilities, the number of entities participating in the system (sheltered workshops, professional activity facilities, occupational therapy workshops), the total population labor activity and structure of the entities participating in the system. The results of analysis lead to the conclusion that the real values of indicators characterizing economic activity of people with disabilities differ from the model values taken as assumptions for objectives of the declared public policy, and lead to questions about the effectiveness of support tools and pertinence of the directions of change