Trabzon model: Applicability of shelterd workshops in terms of employers on employment policies of the mentally handicapped in the scope of social policy in Turkey

Despite the constituiton of the necessary legal ground in order to ensure the employment of mentally handicapped within the severely disabled group in Turkey, with various reasons, these individuals in the study of employment of disabled people form the ignored disabled group and can not benefit the required extent for employment. Being a few of the recommended number of sheltered workshops for the employment of mentally handicapped people in Turkey, as one of the countries which empasis on disability rights and ratified international conventions, is the indication of not enough production of a consistent policy on this issue. In this regard, about opening projected sheltered workshops for the employment of the mentally handicapped people, the policy implemeted by the government is sheltered workshops project with ASPB İŞKUR (TEO, Turkish employment organization) trying to ensure cooperation. By learning the employers‟ attitudes about opening sheltered workshop, as one of the target audience expected to realise this project, the demonstration of the applicability of the government‟s mental disability employment policy in terms of employers is the aim of the research. In this context, the study is a qualitative research. For research, semi-structured interview technique is applied to sixteen employers who employ forty and over workers, have knowledge of sheltered workshops application. The obtained data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. According to results obtained from the study, employers, with saying that mentally disabled people should be in working life, however, are reluctant about opening sheltered workshops for them. As the biggest reason, the employers introduce that sheltered workshop can not be operated with business logic and this is a social service so that the state should operate sheltered workshops opening by its agencies. Keywords: Mentally handicapped, Social Model, Sheltered Workshop