During the 10 months of the war, more than 45 thousand Ukrainians received disability

During the 10 months of the war, in 2022, more than 45 thousand Ukrainians received disability, while in 2021, disability was 3.5 times lower. This was announced by Valery Sushkevich, President of the National Assembly of People with Disabilities during the presentation of the draft Guide "Employment of People with Disabilities", which is being developed by the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine.

"In the pre-war year, 13 thousand people received disability. In the first 10 months of the war in 2022, according to official and not very completed statistics, more than 45 thousand Ukrainians received different types of disabilities. The number of people who received disability last year is much more, because it is difficult to get the status of disability during the war," said Valery Sushkevich during the event organised by the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine.

Disability of the Ukrainian citizens over the past 16 months - from the beginning of the war to the middle of 2023 - has an extremely high rate, it is becoming a critical problem for society, said the President of the National Assembly of People with Disabilities. "Many governmental authorities, social institutions do not understand the colossal potential of people with disabilities," added Valery Sushkevich.

About 70-80% of people with disabilities can fully work on an equal footing with others, because the vast majority of such people do not have any external signs of disability, noted Olena Stepanenko, an expert of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine. At the same time, in 53% of cases, people with disabilities can work at a regular workplace.

According to the estimates of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, 0.8-1.0 million people with disabilities may additionally become active at the labour market of Ukraine.

The team of authors is developing a Practical Guide for employers regarding the employment of people with disabilities - this is the first guide that covers all aspects of attracting people with disabilities to the labour market, said the president of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, Oleksii Miroshnychenko. The full version of the Guide will be presented in September and will be digitally updated on an ongoing basis.

The number of jobs for people with disabilities will increase if employers of state and communal forms of ownership take on the obligation to employ this category of unemployed. "It is necessary to align approaches to enterprises of different forms of ownership. All responsibility for the employment of people with disabilities is borne by the private sector, and the public sector is exempted from the obligation to comply with employment regulations and the need to pay administrative and economic fines only because they are financed from the state budget. It is necessary for all forms of ownership to be equal," stressed Oleksii Miroshnychenko, president of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine.

Olena Kulchytska, adviser to the Minister of social policy of Ukraine, noted that it is necessary to take into account the issue of creating psychological comfort and a favourable psychological climate in the team. "Even those veterans who will not have external signs - they have not undergone operations or have defects of the musculoskeletal system - they can have the consequences of contusions, which are quite often manifested by various psychological reactions. This should be considered in the team where such people will come to work," she noted.