Is work in sports feasible for young with intellectual disabilities?

Employment is a vital component of community life for most working-age adults. In addition to being a social expectation in most cultures, paid work provides the financial means to support basic elements of citizenship, such as self-sufficiency in maintaining oneself, choice in participating in activities, and maintaining health and safety.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms “the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection from unemployment” for all human beings, emphasizing work as a basic need and a human right. In addition, employment provides an important channel for meaningful social participation, serving as a means to connect socially and professionally with others, to contribute to the immediate or wider community, and to develop one’s skills and knowledge.

For people with disabilities, the role of employment as a means of gaining access to valued social roles may be even more crucial. The lack of finances and connections outside the home creates a cycle of social isolation for many, and makes participation in social activities difficult. While social programs in most developed countries help ameliorate the lack of earned income, most do little to bring people with disabilities up to acceptable standards of living, and do not address the social isolation and low status associated with continued unemployment.

In Italy

In the world of work, inclusion is almost nonexistent. Only 31.4 percent of people with Down syndrome over 24 have jobs. Most of the employed (more than 60 percent), however, are not on standard employment contracts.

In most cases they work in social cooperatives, often without a proper contract. In addition, 70 percent of the cases receive no or minimal compensation, which is in any case less than the normal salary. Even more serious is the situation for people with autism: only 10% of those over 20 work.

“Over time,” according to Censis, “the sense of abandonment of families increases and the share of those who complain of not being able to count on anyone’s help in thinking about the future life prospects of their children with disabilities grows.

While among parents of children/adolescents with Down syndrome up to 15 years of age the share of parents thinking about an ‘after us’ in which their child will have an independent or semi-autonomous life varies between 30 percent and 40 percent, among parents of adults the share decreases to 12 percent. The share of parents of children/adolescents with autism who envision a future situation of even partial autonomy for their children (23%) decreases even more dramatically (5%) among families who have a child with autism aged 21 and older.”