Media

The Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong (CCSG-HKU) is implementing the Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment, funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. As part of this three-year project, a Diagnostic Study was conducted to assess the current situation of inclusive employment of people with disabilities (PWD) in Hong Kong.  The Study helps shed light on possible leverage points for actions and improvement, and provide insights for building collaboration platforms, and upcoming activities. Released today (13 May 2022), the Report identified the challenges of inclusive employment in Hong Kong, and provided an analysis and a series of recommendations based on five dimensions, namely public policy, PWD education, employment and training, PWD employment incentives, and motivation for business organisations.

Through an online survey with 2,715 Hong Kong resident respondents aged 18 or above, the research team found that only 18-27% of the respondents believe that people with intellectual disabilities, special education needs and physical disabilities and people without disabilities have a similar chance of being employed. Less than half of the respondents believe that PWD are an important part of the workforce. Only 36% of respondents considered people with intellectual disabilities an important part of the workforce, and the figures for people with special education needs and people with physical disabilities were 44% and 48% respectively. Despite low levels of recognition of PWD’s contribution to the workplace, the respondents expressed a willingness to work with PWD – 88% of them do not mind working with people with physical disabilities, and 77% and 65% for special education needs and intellectual disabilities respectively. These seemingly contradictory results reflect the public may not understand different disabilities and PWD’s abilities well. However, they hold a positive attitude towards PWD employment, as 60% of the respondents believe that resources should be invested in facilitating the employment of PWD rather than spent on their welfare. Though regarded as important, only 15% of the respondents believe that Hong Kong provides sufficient vocational opportunities to equip PWD for employment. In addition to the survey, the research team also conducted 53 in-depth interviews, 11 focus group discussions with different stakeholders including employers, NGOs, schools, training bodies, self-help groups, PWD and their caregivers, etc. to understand the effectiveness of different interventions.

Dr Elaine Chan, the Deputy Director of CCSG-HKU, made the following recommendations to facilitate inclusive employment of PWD:

• Start teaching the meaning of social inclusion, including towards PWD, from kindergarten
• Explore a greater variety of PWD education
• Consider changing the Chinese terms of PWD and SEN
• Promote knowledge of different kinds of disabilities
• Involve societal imagination to expand PWD job opportunities
• Promote understanding of what inclusive employment means and what it entails
• Promote various ways to support inclusive employment, such as promoting inclusive employment as part of Environmental Social and Governance reporting to the corporates
• Strategical promotion, e.g., employer sharing, industry-specific job fairs
• Enhance coordination between relevant organizations and departments
• Make reference to experiences of promoting inclusive employment in other countries

Professor Wai-Fung Lam, the Director of CCSG-HKU, highlighted that to achieve inclusive employment, the participation of different stakeholders including the government, NGOs, schools, the general public, PWD and caregivers are critical. The findings of this research will also inform the planning of the activities of the Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment, which will leverage community resources to promote inclusive employment and ultimately an inclusive society.

Please visit our project website to download the full report.

Event photos can be downloaded here.

Media Enquiries
Ms Jacqueline Cheung, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong
(Tel: 3910 2462 / 9211 0153; email: jnlc@hku.hk)

About the Project - Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment
In collaboration with the four key NGO partners – CareER, Heep Hong Society, SAHK and St. James’ Settlement, and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment adopts a stakeholder-based and collaborative approach to attaining inclusive employment. The three-year Project aspires to not only raise stakeholders’ awareness and knowledge on inclusive employment, but also to inspire them to take action and become advocates for inclusive employment. We hope to encourage members of the society to think out of the conventional imagination of job types for people with disabilities (PWD) and provide them with more suitable opportunities, so that their talents and contributions can be fully acknowledged from multiple perspectives.

Organised by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong, the Project’s Inclusive Career Platform will conduct a diagnostic study of inclusive employment and engage members of the community and key stakeholders to participate in a community-wide re-visioning exercise to reflect upon what inclusive employment and social inclusion entail. We will also establish an information commons for assessing and sharing information, and build an action platform to empower talents, incubate ideas, leverage resources and form working networks. We trust that such collaboration can ultimately lead to the raising societal awareness on and furthering the cause of inclusive employment, achieving an inclusive and sustainable society.

About the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong
Established in December 2002, the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (the Centre) strives to enhance our knowledge of civil society and its contribution towards good governance, and to facilitate the attainment of a sustainable society through forging community-based innovative solutions to inform policy deliberation and collective actions. The work of the Centre is organised around the three Labs – the Policy for Sustainability Lab (PSL), the Social Entrepreneurship and Civic Action Lab (SECAL), and the Nonprofits and Philanthropy Lab (NPPL); each of them representing a research focus and an area of excellence of the Centre.