Training Outline

2.8 Standard Lecture: Social Policy and Affirmative Action (20 minutes)

• Explain to participants that the promotion of equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities not only entails the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of disability, but it also requires States to take affirmative action to ensure that people with disabilities have access to employment opportunities in the labour market. This proactive approach includes requirements that the workplace environment be adapted to make it accessible to all people with disabilities who are able to work, with appropriate technical aids or supports, if necessary. It is not sufficient to simply pass laws or regulations that prohibit discrimination.
• Review for participants the distinction that exists between social policy measures, which are always permitted, and affirmative action measures, which deviate from the equal treatment norm and therefore may need justification. For example, if the law merely states that transportation companies cannot discriminate against people with disabilities, it may not be specific enough to ensure that people who use wheelchairs can use the bus. Instead, companies must be required to buy a sufficient number of kneeling buses or para-transit buses and run them in sufficient numbers on all routes, in order to ensure access for wheelchair users.
• Using Transparency 34, highlight some examples of social policies, explaining that respect for human dignity requires the formulation of such social policies. Have participants generate additional examples of social policy.
• Using Transparency 35, explain that affirmative action (or positive action) measures actively seek to promote the principle of equal opportunity for members of disadvantaged and under-represented groups, by granting these members some form of preferential treatment. Stress that affirmative action is not discrimination. Affirmative action measures seek to promote equality of opportunity and are aimed at overcoming structural disadvantage experienced by a group.