Persons with disabilities challenge supply chain barriers

Mosharraf Hossain, Director of Global Policy, Influencing and Research for ADD International guest blogs for ETI on how to break down barriers for persons with disabilities in global supply chains. And he has the personal experience to prove it.

Next month, ministers, senior officials, and leaders from the global disability movement will converge on the United Nations Headquarters to celebrate ten years of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Convention affirms the right of persons with disabilities to work on an equal basis with others.

For many of the world’s one billion persons with disabilities, this remains a distant prospect. Yet, there are also exciting signs of change.

Full and productive employment and decent work

The newly agreed Sustainable Development Goals contain a target to "achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities".

DFID’s latest Disability Framework identifies economic empowerment as a priority.  

And, as Dr Susan Scott-Parker recently wrote on this site, global corporations are increasingly realising that there is not only a compelling ethical case, but also a strong business case, for breaking down the barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from accessing work.

I have personal experience of some of these barriers – and have been on the frontline of the campaign to overcome them.

Challenging discrimination in Bangladesh

I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. When I was three I caught polio.

My family gave all their support to overcome the barriers associated with my disability.

After completing a Masters in Economics, I applied to the Bangladesh Civil Service. They refused me a job because of my disability.

The problem was not my ability. The problem was how society perceived the ability of persons with disabilities.

I became Bangladesh Country Director of ADD International in 1994, and took the government to court about their discriminatory policies.

I won.

Persons with disabilities now have a right to work in the Bangladesh Civil Service.

Opening up opportunities in markets and supply chains

ADD International’s work in Africa and Asia has identified successful approaches to enable persons with disabilities to participate in markets and supply chains.

And we do this by working in partnership with local organisations of persons with disabilities to:

• Offer training and assets tailored to local markets and employers’ needs.
• Advise employers on the accessibility of workplaces.
• Raise employers’ awareness of the benefits of hiring persons with disabilities.
• Share experiences – whether that be Ugandan graduates or women with intellectual disabilities in rural Cambodia.

Breakthroughs in the Bangladesh garment industry

In Bangladesh, for example, ADD International worked to create employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in garment factories.

We offered persons with disabilities 30 days’ training to become sewing machine operators. But at first they were not offered jobs.

So we paid the trainees’ wages for a probationary period of two months, and they showed they could work as machine operators.

We also worked in Parliament and with the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association to encourage the employment of persons with disabilities.

Now they are welcome to work in garments factories.But it took three years to melt the ice into water.

Finding new solutions

Addressing extreme poverty and creating employment for persons with disability through a market-based approach is still a new concept.

We at ADD International - in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies and the Coady International Institute are carrying out research to learn more about the approaches that work. For persons with disabilities as well as for other highly marginalised groups.

We’ll be reporting back at the end of the year.  

What next?

Our experience has shown that persons with disabilities can successfully participate in global supply chains. With benefits for everyone.

Now the challenge is to harness the innovation and energy of the business sector to achieve the large-scale change needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target of full, decent, productive employment for all.

We look forward to working with the business sector.

To realise the rights, and unlock the potential, of persons with disabilities throughout global supply chains, at this exciting moment for disability and ethical trade.