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Ahmet Besim Toker is a psychological counselor
who has been working on persons with disabilities
since he obtained his university degree.
He has been working as the Manager
of the Counselling Center for the Disabled
of the Narlidere Municipality in Izmir.
One of his latest projects concerns
employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
In Turkey, 78% of persons with disabilities are currently unemployed.
Approximately 7 million persons with disabilities
cannot participate in production activities and in social life.
They live as prisoners in their own homes.
According to the law, companies who hire more than 50 employees
are obliged to reserve
3% of their personnel contingent for persons with disabilities.
If companies do not obey to this law,
they are penalized with a fine of 1.000 USD.
And most companies choose to pay that fine
rather than hiring persons with disabilities.
According to statistics provided by the Turkish Labour Association,
there is a gap of 33.000 employees between the contingent
and the current number of persons
with disabilities who are employed in the private sector
only in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Despite this, only 6.500 are looking for a job as 50% of persons
with disabilities believe that they will not be hired anywhere.
In other words, half of the population with disabilities feel that
they are not welcome in the workplace
and that employers and other employees will never accept them.
The Narlidere Municipality is touching the lives of many persons
with disabilities through an examplary project.
A project led by Ahmet Besim Toker, the Manager of
the Counselling Center for the Disabled of the Narlidere Municipality,
is adressing the unemployment issue among persons with disabilities.
After the seminar, the Narlidere Municipality Counselling Center
for the Disabled comes into play
and assists seminar attendees in getting in contact with companies.
And with the help of cooperating companies,
their lives start changing.
They are no longer prisoners in their own homes,
and become occupied by their responsabilities at the workplace,
their new circle of friends and a social life.
We recieved a list of 2.499 persons with disabilities registered
to the Izmir Branch of the Turkish Employment Agency (TEA).
We browsed the list and
chose a group of 500 people, which consists of persons with disabilities
who have a higher chance of finding employment.
This group consisted of people with all type of disabilities.
We gave them a seminar.
At the same time, we made contact with potential employers
who are willing to offer employment to persons with disabilities.
Our project continues in 6-months-long cycles.
It was deemed to be very successful by the TEA
and its third cycle will begin in January 2010.
And 145 persons with disabilities found jobs thanks to these efforts.
Besim Toker never lost his ambition to make a difference in his society.
He kept developing projects in order to touch the lives
of persons with disabilities.
He mobilized socially responsible people and institutions
for this cause and made a huge and sustainable difference
in the lives of thousdans of children with disabilities...