Institute of Education

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Career Development
and People with
Disabilities
Dr Gulnaz Zahid
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
iCeGs, Institute of Education

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 Objectives
To reflect on how disability is framed by legislations in
different corners of the world and place of career development
in it

To review research on career development of people with

disabilities and ascertain its place between policy and actions

To propose new lines of actions for innovative, collaborative

and cross-cultural research in this area
Reference:
Handicap International. (2012). Disability and development. Retrieved from
http://www.hiproweb.org/fileadmin/cdroms/Handicap_Developpement/www/index_en.html

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 Rationale: Legislation from
different States
Approximately 15% of people live with disabilities

Disabilities is a human rights issue

80% of people with disabilities live in developing

countries

Career development should be considered important

for people with disabilities
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 Review of Legislation
Developed Countries
Pakistan: "disabled person" means a person
who, on account of injury, disease or
congenital deformity, is handicapped for
undertaking any gainful profession or
employment in order to earn his livelihood,
and includes a person who is blind, deaf,
physically handicapped or mentally retarded
(Employment and Rehabilitation Ordinance,
1981)
Sri-Lanka: Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Act, No 28 of 1996 is A person with
disabilities means one who, as a result of any
deficiency in his physical or mental
capabilities, whether congenital or not, is
unable by himself to ensure for himself,
wholly or partly, the necessities of life
Developing Countries
UK: The Equity Act of UK (2010) defines
disability as physical or
mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and
'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do
normal daily activities. The Equality Act 2010
doesn't apply to Northern Ireland.
Canada: a qualifying disability is any severe
and prolonged condition that inhibits a person
from performing normal and routine daily
activities. The definition is broad allowing for
qualification of nearly endless number of
conditions
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Salient Features in
Legislations

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Place of Research between Policy
and Action
Research provides direction to action and consequently
feeds into policy

Research can help rethinking of policy in other regions,

and adopt and adapt systems of action

Research can help identify career development issues

and target policy actions which are mainly broad at the
outset

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 Research focus on Career
Development of People with
Disabilities
Career development research Findings
(people with disabilities)

Educational challenge Inclusivity: A lack of focus in the developing countries

Budget: Budgetary challenges in the developed
countries
Big picture: Enrollment, retention drop-out-later
behavioural issues
Teacher competencies and leadership
Career aspirations and SEND

Socio-emotional and life-skill Behavioural issues associated with disabilities

challenge Evidences on effectiveness of social skill training

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Career development research (people Findings
with disabilities)
Employability challenge Employment
Wages
Research on effective transitions
Self-employment high
Gender

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 Recommendations
Career development is a broad and multidimensional area and
require a same kind of research focus
Research on practice of differentiated instruction and assessment
Interventional studies
Adaption and adoption of models from the developed countries
More research on disability in the developing countries
Research on different phases of career development including career
progression in adulthood and career after retirement
Entrepreneurship schemes
Cross-cultural comparisons on transitional issues, policies, systems
and models that work best

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Thank You

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