Persons with disabilities: opportunities for labour inclusion and social protection through the life course

Expected Outcome:Projects should contribute to two of the following expected outcomes:Provide implementable, quality, disaggregated and evidence-based data to policymakers and research and innovation stakeholders to bridge the employment gap between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities.Deliver scalable and replicable inclusive person-centred interventions addressing the situation of persons with disabilities in relation to the labour market in a manner that they are transferable to the new contexts of work, studying and comparing their impacts.Develop innovative policy approaches in the area of social protection for persons with disabilities to compensate the cost associated to disabilities, removing barriers for their participation and encourage them to engage in employment in the open labour market, while at the same time guaranteeing them an adequate level of social protection. Scope:The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[1] recognises the right to work for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others (Art. 27). However, only half of the 42.8 million persons with disabilities of working age in the EU is employed, this being translated into an employment gap in which only 51% of persons with disabilities are employed compared to 75% of persons without disabilities[2]. In addition, persons with disabilities are overrepresented among those inactive in the labour market, not looking for a job due to different barriers, such as a generalised lack of accessibility of workplaces, inaccessible transportation, built environment and infrastructure, insufficient or inadequate reasonable accommodation, lack of flexibility in employment, administrative burdens or incompatibility with disability benefits.Thus, new and innovative ways of inclusion into the labour market of persons with disabilities need to be explored and tested with the objective to reduce the gaps between persons with and without disabilities, reduce ine