Employment and Disability: Aid, Schemes and Contacts for the World of Work

There are recruitment agencies and third sector bodies who may know about jobs, or government schemes that will find you employment.

We’ve also listed them by country, and there a few Europe wide resources at the end too. 

Denmark

BM Handicap. This website has a bundle of great resources including a wage subsidy scheme for disabled graduates, mentoring on the job, and personal assistance.

United Kingdom

Remploy – Employment opportunities for disabled people in the UK

France

CAP Emploi – Find help getting into work, with this organisation helping you with your CV, finding job opportunities, providing training, and giving help with diagnoses.

España

FAMMA is a Labour Integration Service, which provides job opportunities, training and more for disabled people in Madrid. You may also find a Labour Integration Service in your own municipality.

The Netherlands

Target Group This page details a Government scheme to get 100,000 disabled people into work. It notes how entering the ‘Target Register’ makes you eligible for the scheme.

Belgique

Adapted Work Enterprises. This page has a directory of ‘ETAs’, which are ‘Adapted Work Enterprises’. These bodies create jobs for disabled people, and you may find work with them.

Portugal

The Salvador Association The Salvador Association has a few schemes to help disabled people find work, including orientation interviews as well as help sourcing opportunities.

Italia

CategorieProtetteallavoro.it This job search engine exclusively recruits people with protected characteristics such as disabled people.

Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz (DE, AU, CH)

ArbeiterKammer A lot of information about how disabled people can find work, including information about an integrative vocational training scheme.

Sozial Ministerium Information about three schemes in Austria that can help disabled people find work.

MitSchaffe A Swiss recruitment firm for people with mental or physical disabilities.

Insieme A large number of resources for disabled people in Switzerland searching for a job.

Norge

NHF Employment workshops for disabled people in Norway.

Sverige

Sundsvall Several great resources for disabled people looking for work in Sweden.

Ireland

Link2Me.ie is a jobs portal for people with intellectual disabilities.

Welfare.ie This Government webpage signposts useful resources which can help disabled people find work.

Europe

European Disability Forum – The European Disability Forum, a great place to find out more about your rights and get involved with the disability movement.

EASPD – EASPD, or the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities, is a non-profit NGO in the disability sector, promoting the views of over 12, 000 social services and their umbrella associations. There are over 80 million people with a disability throughout Europe. The main objective of EASPD is to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities through effective and high-quality service systems.  They also have their own job opportunities listed on the site!

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights  – Another great place to find out more about your working rights.  The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights prohibits discrimination on the ground of disability and recognises the right of people with disabilities to benefit from measures to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the life of the community.

Looking for a job? Many big businesses and charities alike across Europe will explicitly state that they are looking for applications from disabled people (whether we like it or not, many businesses now have a ‘disability quota’ to fill, meaning disabled applicants have a relatively good chance of employment for numerous organisations).