Between October and November 2020, Regione Toscana together with ANCI Toscana promoted the project “Trainings for Accessible Communities”. The project aims to create and implement free training courses to deepen and spread greater attention to accessibility in working environments. The training was directed in particular at managers and officials of Tuscan municipalities in the social, schooling, cultural and urban planning sectors, but also at staff of the ASL (medical local institutions) and professionals who interface with the PA or social workers, architects , surveyors, engineers.The Inclusive Development Unitparticipated on the issues of employability, job placement of disadvantaged people or people with disabilities with the work carried out in the POR FSE 2014 – 2020 framework.
The lesson “Towards a structured system for job placement: reflections, tools and experiences” on Wednesday 11 November 2020, Federico Ciani illustrated the process that led to the development of some tools for assessing the employability of persons with disabilities based on ICF language and on the bio-psycho-social approach to disability carried out in 14 district areas in Tuscany.
The ICF classification and the tools for evaluating the work placement of people with disabilities
The ICF language, International Classification of Functioning, describes the functioning of a person by taking into account the interaction between the characteristics of the person (including their state of health) and the surrounding context. The ICF classification was officially approved by all 191 member states of the WHO (World Health Organization) on 22 May 2001 as an international standard for describing health and disability.
In 2016, as part of the POR FSE 2014 – 2020 European framework, ARCO was commissioned to create tools for the elaboration of ICF profiles through multidimensional and multidisciplinary assessment procedures. The ICF experimentation led to the production of the VINIL profiling form (Integrated Evaluation for Job Inclusion) aimed at providing adequate information support in the development of job placement projects. The VINIL form is made up of different parts, including three sections entirely dedicated to “structures”, “functions” and “activities”.
The topics of training
Starting from an illustration of the theoretical context – capabilities approach and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – Federico Ciani explained in detail the participatory process that led to the co-creation of the assessment tool in ICF language. Federico then moved on to a more in-depth reasoning on the data relating to the evaluation of the path itself to finish with some reflections both on the tools and, more generally, on the job placement system.