Access to the civil service for people with intellectual disabilities

For more than 40 years, Spanish legislation has required the inclusion of a percentage of people with disabilities in private companies and public administrations. But experience shows that the labour market is not adapted to people with greater needs for support: neither access to employment, nor the design of workplaces and workplaces themselves. This is why there has been a tendency to hire people who needed less support and had the capacity to pass the access tests without adaptations. In 2017, the law specified that the 2% of public employment positions should be reserved for people with intellectual disabilities. But this measure was not being carried out either, because the selection and incorporation processes were not adapted. At the proposal of Gureak, in 2020 the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa took on the challenge of reserving 3 places for people with intellectual disabilities in its next Public Employment Offer. In this way, once again the territory of Gipuzkoa became a pioneer in the promotion of equal opportunities for all people, being a benchmark in the strategy of leaving no one behind. From Gureak we have worked side by side with the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa giving external advice throughout the process, to incorporate people with intellectual disabilities in public positions. And this work is already bearing fruit.