Complying with Reasonable Accommodation Requirements for Persons with Visual Impairment in Uganda Public Service Employment? Assumptions and Gaps
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.83.9877Keywords:
persons with visual impairment; reasonable accommodation; Uganda public service employment; requirementsAbstract
Uganda has got legal and policy frameworks that guarantee the provision of reasonable accommodation in employment for persons with disabilities, persons with visual impairment inclusive. The available literature indicates that persons with visual impairment remain largely disadvantaged in public service employment despite the progressive disability legal and policy framework in the employment. The paper examines the Uganda public service employment compliance with provisions of reasonable accommodation for persons with visual impairment. This paper arises from a study on access to and inclusion of persons with visual impairment in public service employment in Uganda. The study adopted a qualitative research approach. Twenty-two [22] participants were interviewed and included persons with visual impairment in public service and their direct supervisors from four districts of Jinja, Kampala, Iganga, and Mbarara, officials from Public Service Commissions, National Council for Disability, and Uganda National Association of the Blind. Data was obtained using interviews and observation and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show the gaps and assumptions in the provision of reasonable accommodation requirements for persons with visual impairment in employment and have effects in the provision of auxiliary and support services, modification of working environment & facilities, making information accessible, modification of job application procedures, restructuring work systems, provision of housing, among others.
References
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[59].Wickenden, M., Thompson, S, Mader, P., Brown, S., & Rohwerder, B. [2020]. Accelerating Disability Inclusive Formal Employment in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda: What are the vital ingredients? Brighton: IDS
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[2].Barclay, L.A., Markel, K.S. & Yugo, J. E. [2012]. “Virtue theory and organizations: considering persons with disabilities”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 330-346.
[3].Bekoreire, M.B., Wanambwa, B., Kyatuha, O., Wasike, S., Mankind, J., & Nandutu, M. A [2012]. Equal Employment Policy and Access to Formal Employment of People with Disabilities in Uganda: A case study of Eastern Uganda, Moi University
[4].Bonaccio, S., Connelly, C. E., Gellatly, I. R., Jetha, A., & Ginis, K. A. M. [2019]. The participation of people with disabilities in the workplace across the employment cycle: Employer concerns and research evidence. Journal of Business and Psychology, 1-24.
[5].Clayton, S., Barr, B., Nylen, L., Burström, B., Thielen, K., Diderichsen, F., & Whitehead, M. [2012]. Effectiveness of return-to-work interventions for disabled people: a systematic review of government initiatives focused on changing the behavior of employers. The European Journal of Public Health, 22[3], 434-439.
[6].Clements, B., Douglas, G., & Pavey, S. [2011]. Which factors affect the chances of paid employment for individuals with visual impairment in Britain? Work, 39[1], 21-30.
[7].Coffey, M., Coufopoulos, A. & Kinghorn, K. [2014]. Barriers to employment for visually impaired women. International Journal of Workplace Health Management 7 [3], 171-185
[8].Coleman, J. [1973]. Equality of opportunity and equality of results. Harvard Educational Review, 43[1], 129-137.
[9].Creswell, J.W. [2013]. Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, Third Edition, SAGE Publication, London-United Kingdom
[10].Degner, T. & Quinn G. [2002]. ‘A survey of International, Comparative and Regional Disability Law Reform’ in ML Breslin and S Yee [Eds], Disability Rights Law and Policy: International and National Perspectives [Transnational Publishers, New York 2002]
[11].Disabled People's Organization-Denmark [DPOD] & National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda [NUDIPU] [2016]. Employment of Persons with Disabilities in the Formal Labour Market, Kampala-Uganda
[12].Elford, G. [2013]. Equality of opportunity and other-affecting choice: why luck egalitarianism does not require brute luck equality. Ethical theory and moral practice, 16[1], 139-149
[13].Emong, P. [2014]. "Realization of Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Higher Education in Uganda: Using the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as an Overarching Framework", Thesis Submitted to University of Leads for a Ph.D., Kampala-Uganda
[14].Fredman, S, [2010]. Sheppard, Inclusive Equality: The Relational Dimensions of Systemic Discrimination in Canada [McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010]; Marc De Vos, ‘Beyond Formal Equality: Positive Action under Directive 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC’, The Thematic Report [Office for Official Publications of European Communities, Luxemburg, 2007]
[15]. Fredman, S, [2016]. Substantive equality revisited, Oxford University Press and New York University School of Law, New York
[16].Fredman, S, [2002]. Discrimination Law, OUP, Oxford.7-11
[17]. Gold, P. B., Oire, S. N., Fabian, E. S., & Wewiorski, N. J. [2012]. Negotiating reasonable workplace accommodations: Perspectives of employers, employees with disabilities, and rehabilitation service providers. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 37[1], 25-37.
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[21].Graham, K. M., McMahon, B. T., Kim, J. H., Simpson, P., & McMahon, M. C. [2019]. Patterns of workplace discrimination across broad categories of disability. Rehabilitation Psychology, 64[2], 194
[22].Griffiths, A., Bechange, S., Loryman, H., Iga, C., & Schmidt, E. [2018]. How do legal and policy frameworks support the employment of people with disabilities in Uganda? Findings from a qualitative policy analysis study. Sight savers
[23].Hardie, W. F. R. [1980]. Aristotle's ethical theory, Oxford University Press, ISBN[s] 9780198246329
[24].Hamel, K., Tong, B., & Hofer, M. [2019]. Poverty in Africa is now falling–but not fast enough. The Brookings Institution
[25].Hill, K, Shepherd, C, & Hirsch, D. [2018]. Experiences of Living with Visual Impairment: Matching Income with Needs
[26].Holland A, Harbridge R, Olsen J.E,and Marlena, R [2017]. Research Insights: Improving access and inclusion in employment for people with disabilities, Australian Network on Disability
[27].Houtenville A. & Kalargyrou V. [2012]. "People with disabilities: Employers' perspectives on recruitment practices, strategies, and challenges in leisure and hospitality," Human Resources Management, Vol.53, no. 1, pp.40-52, 2012
[28].International Agency for Prevention of Blindness [IAPB] [2015]. Global blindness and visual impairment data, Vision Loss expert group, Lancet
[29].Jolley, E., Lynch, P., Virendrakumar, B., Rowe, S., & Schmidt, E. [2018]. Education and social inclusion of people with disabilities in five countries in West Africa: a literature review. Disability and rehabilitation, 40 [22], 2704-2712
[30].Khaemba, W., Kingiri, A., Olenja, J., Wangila, S., Nyariki, E., Kiraithe, A., & Oloo, W. [2017]. Labor Market Situation in Kenya: Promoting Right to Work and Employment for Persons with Disabilities [PwDs], Bridging the Gap policy Brief 004/2017, Nairobi: African Centre for Technology Studies
[31].Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre [LCDIC], [2016]. Bridging the Gap-Examining disability and development in Four African Countries. LCDIC
[32].Lawson, A. [2008]. Disability and Equality Law in Britain: The Role of Reasonable Accommodation, 1st Edition, ISBN.9781841138282, Britain-United Kingdom
[33].Lawson, A. [2011]. Disability and employment in the Equality Act 2010: Opportunities seized, lost, and generated. Industrial Law Journal, 40[4], 359-383.
[34].Mason, J. [2018]. Qualitative Researching. Third Edition, SAGE publications limited, London
[35].Mazaki, K. E. [2017]. Staff Welfare and Teachers 'Performance in Public Primary Schools in Bugisu Sub-Region in Uganda. Published Ph.D. Dissertation, UTAMU-Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda
[36].Mueke, R. [2014]. A Baseline Study on Areas of Successes and Barriers in skills Development and Employment of Graduates with Disabilities, Nairobi: ADDA Kenya and Employable project partners
[37].Narayanan, S. [2018]. A study on challenges faced by disabled people at the workplace in Malaysia. In Proceeding—5th Putrajaya international conference on children, women, elderly and people with disabilities [pp. 185-197]
[38].National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda [NUDIPU] [2014]. Alternative Report to the UN Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [CRPD]. NUDIPU, Kampala-Uganda
[39].Nyombi, C. & Kibandama, A. [2016]. Access to employment for Persons with Disabilities in Uganda, Cornell University, Labor law journal 12-2016] 248
[40].Nyombi, C., & Kibandama, A. [2014]. Access to employment for persons with disabilities in Uganda. Labor Law Journal, 65[4], 248-258.
[41].O'Donnell, W., [2014]. "An Analysis of Employment Barriers Facing Blind People" [2014]. Public Affairs Capstones Collection, Paper 23
[42].Oire, S. N. [2013]. Employers' Uses of Workplace Reasonable Accommodation for Retaining Employees with Disabilities, Dissertation submitted to Faculty of Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
[43].Opoku, M. P., Mprah, W.K., Dogbe, J.A., Moitui, J.N, & Badu, E. [2017]. Access to Employment in Kenya: The Voices of Persons with Disabilities. International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 16 [1], 77-87
[44].Segall, S. [2013]. Equality and Opportunity. Oxford University Press
[45].Sundar, V., O'Neill, J., Houtenville, A. J., Phillips, K. G., Keirns, T., Smith, A., & Katz, E. E. [2018]. Striving to work and overcoming barriers: Employment strategies and successes of people with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 48[1], 93-109.
[46].Uganda Bureau of Statistics [2015]. Statistical Abstract, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Kampala-Uganda
[47].Uganda Bureau of Statistics [2016a]. The National Population and Housing Census 2014-Main Report, Kampala, Uganda
[48].Uganda Bureau of Statistics [UBOS] [2016b]. Statistical Abstract, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Kampala
[49].Uganda Bureau of Statistics [2019]. 2018 Statistical Abstract, UBOS
[50].Uganda Delegation [2016]. The employment situation of people with disabilities in Uganda: Prospects and challenges, in conference proceedings on 'the employment of persons with disabilities', 26th-28th October 2016, Istanbul-Turkey.
[51].Uganda National Employment Policy [2011]. Increasing Decent Employment Opportunities and Labor Productivity for Socio-Economic Transformation, Government of Uganda, MGLSD, Kampala
[52].United Nations [UN] [1966]. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights [ICESCR]. United Nations, Geneva
[53].United Nations [UN] [2006]. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [CRPD], Retrieved from http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptroe.pdf
[54].United Nations [UN] [1948]. Universal Declaration of Human Rights [UDHR]. United Nations [UN] Adopted and Proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A [III] of 10 December 1948
[55].Enable, U. N. [2006]. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. General Assembly United Nations, New York.
[56].United Nations [1919]. International Labor Organization Conventions [ILO]. United Nations
[57].United Nations [UN] [1966]. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Adopted and opened for signature, ratification, and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A [XXI] of 16 December 1966 entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49
[58].Wahidin, H., Waycott, J., & Baker, S. [2018]. The challenges in adopting assistive technologies in the workplace for people with visual impairments. In Proceedings of the 30th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction [pp. 432-442]
[59].Wickenden, M., Thompson, S, Mader, P., Brown, S., & Rohwerder, B. [2020]. Accelerating Disability Inclusive Formal Employment in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda: What are the vital ingredients? Brighton: IDS
[60].World Health Organization [2015], World Report on Disability. World Health Organization, WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data, Geneva
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Published
2021-04-08
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Iyundhu, A., Karooma, C., & Emong, P. (2021). Complying with Reasonable Accommodation Requirements for Persons with Visual Impairment in Uganda Public Service Employment? Assumptions and Gaps. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(3), 632–651. https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.83.9877
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