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Aistė Krušinskaitė has a movement disability that did not prevent her from achieving her goals in life. She is currently involved in various activities, one of the most recent being the implementation of unique models and creative projects and creative ideas from the Hero Talents conference agency. He co-founded the agency with his colleague Ema Navickiene, with the aim of enabling people with disabilities to be active in the advertising and events markets.
“It is difficult to see how much more we have to work to solve the problem of the work of people with disabilities. Everyone needs awareness, an open and at the same time unmatched attitude, sincere communication and a vision of the most important qualities. We easily notice what a person cannot or does not pay for, but less often we pay attention to their strengths and talents. The wave of positive change, I believe, will infect both employers and those who are reluctant to get a job. Let’s start with ourselves, the pandemic will disappear, but we will stay. And it is up to us to choose whether to learn from the difficulties or allow them to poison us, ”says A. Krušinskaitė about the necessary changes in the labor market.
Among the challenges is the fear of stepping out of the comfort zone.
At the age of 25, Aistė suffered a spinal injury and has been moving around in a wheelchair for more than 6 years. Immediately after the injury, she found within herself the strength that had led to a new phase of testing. The first weeks were difficult both physically and emotionally, but then the woman found the answer to what a man wants to be and what he wants to achieve.
“Having a clear vision is much more important than having a plan. In the past, I kept saying that I needed to live this day, but I realized that I was wrong. This day is to be enjoyed, and to live is to have a vision of the future so as not to get lost in case of problems, so that you can discover a new path when it is time to leave. After all, in the event of similar crises, work capacity can change. If you know exactly where you are going, they automatically push you in that direction and all you have to do is work so that when you discover new paths, they are filled with joy and meaning, ”he says.
According to the employer, the greatest barrier to employment for people with disabilities is the established view that a person with a disability is closed, often lacking social skills or overly demanding. It is feared that such an employee will cause inconvenience to colleagues or employers for fear of violating their rights.
“There is fear when people do not know how to behave around a person with a disability, which creates a barrier that can interfere with the work environment. Furthermore, medical findings are very loosely defined and employers often admit that the work environment will not be suitable for a potential employee and that its adaptation will require significant financial resources. Sometimes the problem is too low motivation of the disabled themselves and the unwillingness to adapt to more difficult conditions, to get out of the comfort zone ”, says A. Krušinskaitė.
For people with disabilities who do not dare to enter the labor market, they tend to love themselves more, to think every day about their good qualities, what makes them happy and what really makes life extraordinary.
“You never have to spare yourself and seek salvation in others. We can only help ourselves and only ourselves can create the way we dream to be. I have always loved life and I love it now. Sometimes it seems that every day is more There are also less positive East, but they pass and finally realize that they are very lucky to be here and to be able to do so much. We have been given so much space for self-expression, so much potential that it is simply impossible not to love being here, “he shares the interlocutor.
Encouraged to love life and yourself
The Union of Social Enterprises with Disabilities (NSĮS) has launched the project “I love life”, one of whose heroes is Aistė. It is a series of videos on social networks that shows people with disabilities who want to live, work, create, are capable and willing, and that inspire not only people with disabilities but also the rest of society. The sponsors of the initiative are social enterprises.
“We decided to start this project because we see a really sad situation, which has been aggravated by the pandemic. There are a total of 160 thousand people in Lithuania. disabled people of working age, but only 30% of them. they are busy people, and another 20 thousand. Currently there are unemployed who are willing and able to work ”, says Gediminas Bartkus, director of the NSĮS.
According to him, after excluding all external barriers to the employment of people with disabilities, the main obstacle to entering the labor market is the self-confidence of people with disabilities themselves.
“We want to encourage, inspire, motivate people with disabilities, show that everyone is a blacksmith in their lives, change their own attitudes about themselves. We believe that inspiring success stories will motivate, help to find strength and will not give up on those who currently cannot find work, they will feel unexpected, ”emphasizes G. Bartkus.
The project also aims to change employers’ perceptions of an employee with a disability and public attitudes about the disabled person’s ability to work.
“Social enterprises with a total of around 5 thousand employees. People with disabilities, saw in their example that with a little effort it is possible to successfully include people with different disabilities in the team, who can work together with healthy people. It is It is true that people with disabilities need more attention, and sometimes the whole team meets a new colleague with a disability ”, comments the head of the NSĮS.
The success stories of disabled heroes will be published on the Facebook account of the social network “I can work”.
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