Working as an employee for a big company used to be an impossible dream for Chen Zi-rong (
Thanks to the latest efforts of the Taipei City Labor Affairs Bureau to develop partnerships with private firms, however, the mildly mentally impaired Chen is now a full-time administrative assistant at China Trust Commercial Bank.
"Life is not perfect, so we need to work harder. As long as we continue to exert ourselves, people will recognize our efforts," she said yesterday during a press conference to promote the employment rights of the disabled at Taipei City Hall.
Chen was one of more than 30 disabled people recruited by 10 top private firms this year. Most of these companies used to disregard regulations and were reluctant to recruit the disabled.
The Handicapped Protection Law (
Of the 2,466 government bodies and private corporations required to recruit disadvantaged people, more than 25 percent have not complied. The bureau also found that many of these companies would rather pay the fines than abide by the law.
Prominent firms such as Taipei Fubon Bank, Taishin International Bank, Adecco, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, HSBC and Cathay General Hospital were named in a blacklist published by the bureau in January for not following the regulations.
In an effort to resolve the issue, the bureau reached out to businesses, providing assistance that included job-placement services to encourage more firms to embrace disabled workers.
"We would encourage companies to recruit people with disabilities by establishing massage centers. Most of them welcome this suggestion because the idea of hiring the disabled as a masseur is acceptable," bureau secretary Tsai Shu-chen (
The companies that have embraced the disabled, Tsai said, understood the employees abilities and limitations and would often go on to explore more opportunities for them.
"It was never our intention to turn down the disabled. We just don't know what kind of jobs they could do," HSBC vice president Dorothy Tao (
"It's also difficult for us to find them," she said.
Through the job-matching service provided by the bureau's sheltered workshops for the disabled, HSBC now employs 12 disabled people, working as administrative assistants or masseurs.
As a receptionist for HSBC, Hung Wei-jie (
Tsai said the bureau continued to provide the disabled with professional training in sheltered workshops, but he hoped that ultimately they could work like anyone else.
Interested employers and handicapped persons can visit the labor affairs bureau's Web site at www.bola.taipei.gov.tw.
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