Problems of orthopedic disabled officers in business life (The sample of Ankara province)

At the end of the 20th century, the inclusion of people with disabilities in business life has led to the emergence of social and physical deficiencies in this area. This study, which aims to identify the problems faced by orthopedically disabled individuals in their business life, was planned as a qualitative research and was carried out by conducting in-depth interviews with 14 participants. The research will focus on the factors that encourage the participation of disabled civil servants in business life, their point of views on the Disabled Public Personnel Selection Exam, the working conditions, the general attitudes of their supervisors and colleagues in the context of their social relations, the physical accessibility of their working environment, their professional satisfaction and their response and recommendations to the problems. In the research, it is determined that orthopedically disabled individuals who participate the business life need devices such as more advanced power chairs, which brought a serious economic burden to the them. Their income, however, is not sufficient. Reasons for disabled individuals to participate in business life is determined as being able to take care of themselves when their families are not there, gaining economic independence, producing something and being socialized. It is also determined that the time given for the Disabled Public Personnel Selection Exam is insufficient. Moreover, the disability rate of them is not taken into account in appointments and they cannot get a suitable job for themselves. In addition, it has been revealed that people with disabilities have some health problems, especially pressure sores, due to sitting in a wheelchair for a long time because of long working hours. People with disabilities observe that they are greeted with concern by their supervisors when they started to work and the expected efficiency of them is low. After entering business life, people with disabilities face negative prejudiced attitudes of their supervisors and colleagues because of the idea that they cannot work well as other people. Thus, they need to make great efforts to prove themselves in business life. It has been revealed that especially wheelchair-dependent individuals have difficulty in meeting their physical needs due to the unsuitable physical arrangements in the working environment, they cannot move comfortably because of physical obstacles in the building and they need the help of others. They also have problems in terms of transportation such as reaching and benefiting from public transportation. For this reason, they are again dependent on other people's help. For the solution of all these problems, they think that there is a need for some arrangements in terms of individual, environmental, social and legal aspects in business life.