Employment among people with disabilities, specifically wheelchair users, is at an all-time low. Only the privileged few who have access to certain resources are integrated into mainstream employment. QASA’s vision is for all quadriplegics and paraplegics to live their lives to their full potential.
To achieve this vision, QASA runs numerous projects, including its Digital Village Training Centres. The two-week training programmes at these centres cover basic computer skills and benefit about 600 people with disabilities every year.
However, simply teaching these skills wasn’t enough. QASA went back to the drawing board to find a solution that will lead to permanent employment for these wheelchair users. After much brainstorming and research, the Work Readiness Programme was launched in April 2019 and has become a flagship project of QASA.
This two-month skills programme takes on a different training style: Participants are placed in a simulated work environment in which they are “employees” and the trainer is their supervisor.
Since its inception last year, the QASA Work Readiness Programme has secured mainstream employment and internships for 90 percent of the candidates who completed the programme. It is currently hosted in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng.
For more information, contact QASA at projectcoordinator@qasa.co.za or call 031 767 0348.
