• PROJECT CARD
• BACKGROUND
• OBJECTIVES
• INNOVATION
• FLEMISH PARTNERSHIP
• TRANSNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

The starting points of the project are the following ascertainments:

the auditive handicap of Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons hinders their employment in the regular economical circuit. Besides, there is no adequate methodology of labour exchange for the Deaf available at the moment, to facilitate their integration in the open labour market.

Experience has learned that, when applying on the open labour market, persons with an auditive handicap have less chances than non-handicapped persons. In that the Deaf person does not differ from other handicapped persons. But the auditive handicap expresses itself in disadvantages on three domains, for each of which specific aspects linked to the nature of the handicap can be mentioned:

1. the individual deaf person

2. the employer

3. the firm climate

Entering the open labour market, Deaf persons are confronted with

• communication problems that make their application, the training-on-the-job and their integration in the organisation or firm difficult
• employers who believe the communication barrier is unbridgeable
• colleagues who do not know how to go about with their Deaf colleague appropriately.

An adequate method of accompaniment to neutralise the disadvantages Deaf people experience in obtaining and keeping a job in the open labour market, is however not yet available.

The project objective is to realise the development of an adequate methodology of job coaching for Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons and the training of job coaches in working with the new methodology, in order to advance the professional integration of Deaf persons in the open labour market.

Thereby job coaching must be understood as a combination of job finding (examination of labour market, contact with employers, match between supply and demand), job training (job analysis, training-on-the-job, to socialise, professional support for employers and colleagues) and after-care (permanent availability, accompaniment, frequent evaluation)

Subobjective 1: Development of Methodology of Job Coaching for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing

Subobjective 2: Training of Job Coaches

The project has a socially innovative character due to its objective to adapt existing methodologies of job coaching to the needs of Deaf persons. The project offers Deaf persons concrete future perspectives, not only for obtaining a paid job in the open labour market but also for a successful and long term integration on the work floor. The project will bend the stigma of "difficult to employ" and it will neutralise the disadvantages of the handicap by working out adequate and sufficient measures of support. Thereby the Deaf client will be considered in his role as an employee having a relationship with his employer and his colleagues.

De Provinciale Nazorgdienst voor Doven Oost-Vlaanderen is a non-profit organisation that manages the infrastructure of the Deaf Centre Emmaüs and supports the co-operation between organisations engaged in services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons . The After-Care Service works closely together with the 4 other organisations housed in the Deaf Centre Emmaüs: Centre for Training Aiming at Integration (C.O.I.), Home Emmaüs, INDOGO and the After-Care Service Deaf East-Flanders "Individual Help".

The Provinciale Nazorgdienst voor Doven Oost-Vlaanderen is the promoter of the project "Jobcoaching for the Deaf: Development of an Adequate Methodology".

INDOGO is a research and training centre that aims at the integration of Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons in the hearing society. The activities of INDOGO are based on three pillars: research, training and support.

INDOGO has already gained some project experience with 2 ESF-projects ARDO and PRODEM. In 1997 INDOGO finalised the research project ARDO concerning the work situation of Deaf persons. From 1995 until 1997 INDOGO, together with C.O.I. and other social organisations, conducted the Horizon-project FORUM-PRODEM (Promotion of Deaf Education through Multimedia). The objective of this project was to enable open and distance learning for Deaf persons in Flanders. For the project "Jobcoaching for the Deaf: Development of an Adequate Methodology", INDOGO is responsible for the project co-ordination.

C.O.I. is an ESF-funded re-training centre that provides training courses for polyvalent clerks. The target group of this centre exists of young and/or long-term unemployed persons who are threatened with exclusion from the labour market: persons with a handicap, especially Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons, persons with low incomes, long-term unemployed persons, immigrants or political refugees.

Besides the training courses, C.O.I. also offers a whole range of labour exchange services from intake to job consolidation. The participants seeking for employment go through 5 phases namely intake (assessment of general and technical qualifications), training, job mediation, job entering assistance and job coaching.

In the nearby future, C.O.I. plans to extend its capacity to help Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons, even when they do not need training any more.

The developed methodology of job coaching will be implemented in the labour exchange service offered to Deaf persons by the C.O.I. under the ESF-Objective 3 programme.

• Within FORUM and its Subgroup Employment, PNZD has the specific responsibility for a survey about job counselling for Deaf people (task 4.4). PNZD will draft a questionnaire and send it to all FORUM-partners. The data of this questionnaire will be processed and a report about job counselling will be elaborated. Opportunities will also be given to the partners to discuss the job counselling process for Deaf people in order to draft a list of recommendations on this subject.
• PNZD will make some study visits to other FORUM-partners and will host study visits as well.
• Within the project, there is the opportunity to invite FORUM-partners to contribute to the training for job coaches in 1999. More details will be communicated in the oncoming months.