She knows about myths and stereotypes existing about persons with disabilities from the first hands, because 15 years ago she became disabled herself. Other problems appeared together with health problems: search of a new job, break-up with a close person, raising two kids alone. Many people would give up but Nadezhda Ivanovna says: “May be I’m a lucky person, and I just had no other choice as to continue to live and to work otherwise I wouldn’t be able even to get up in the morning”. Now she is the director of a private firm “Minsk factory of braking equipment” where more than a half of the staff are people with disabilities.
- Nadezhda Ivanovna, how many people with disabilities are we talking about?
- 58 percent of our employees are PWD and the total amount of employees is 84 persons. I am a hired director and was invited to run the business. But it all had started not so good. After I had become a disabled person I had to quit my job. It was the 90th. And you know what it was like when salaries were not paid in time and in parts. At that moment my daughters were 7 and 14 years old. I started to work as a grinder although I was a processing engineer but this specialty wasn’t needed at the market. I also suffered from stress because I was in my 40th and had to work as if I were 18.
- Did you face any stereotypes about disability?
- Yes, of course, I face opinions that a person with disability needs an easier job and a smaller salary… I don’t know the origins of such an opinion, really don’t know. Although, when I fell ill the closest person told me he didn’t need me anymore…
- Do you have to create some special conditions for your employees?
- No, we haven’t specially equipped anything. We just find work for every concrete person. For example, if it is difficult for a person to sit we offer him a work he doesn’t have to sit a lot and vice versa.
- Are you inviting persons with disabilities to employ to your company on purpose?
- - Yes, first of all it is our position. We consider it is very important to support people who faced difficulties. Secondly, the state is giving us some benefits. Why do I say that people with disabilities work better? May it is because they value it more: it is very difficult in our country to find a job if you are disabled.
- - You give a possible employee with disability a chance not only to employ but also to provide for himself…
- - We maintain policy that any person regardless of the state of his health has to get a descent salary. As you know people with disabilities have limitations of hours they can work. Somebody’s norm is 4 hours, another person’s – 6-7. That is why they all get different salaries. An you have to understand that according to the legislation we can’t give them some norms they have to fulfill although one person because of his health can do more in 7 hours than another one in 8 hours. But even if a person works little hours we don’t pay them less than 4 million roubles. Of course, according to the legislation we could pay them only the tariff, but we try to treat everyone humanely. This decision was made by the board and I think it is a very good decision. Besides, we try to support our employees who got into difficult situation. Last year one of our employees had to do joint replacement surgery and we helped him to pay 50 percent of its cost. If a person is in trouble or vice versa he has a big holiday, anniversary for example, we render him financial support.
- - People with what kinds of disabilities are working at your firm?
- - Different people with different stories. There are two deaf persons. They do their work excellently but we have to write down what they should do. We have people with visual impairments, limited mobility there are people with heart diseases. We hire a person depending on the permit to work and on what a person can do. We would be very glad now if we could hire PWD with some specialties we lack qualified specialists and have to teach people before they can start working.
- - Can the state somehow stimulate employers to hire PWDs?
- - I can only say that even those benefits that exist now are not realized in practice. There is a President’s decree on reduction of rental payment to enterprises where PWDs work to 10 percent. But in practice people who lease premises are not executing the decree because it is very unprofitable for them. Maximum we were able to achieve in court was to pay 30 percent. So we have a decree but it doesn’t work. Although the state is interested in us because we bring dollars to Belarus because we are an exporting enterprise and our production is better known in Russia and Ukraine than in Belarus.
- - What are other ways to support a firm where PWDs work?
- - We don’t work just to store the product without possibility to sell it, we produce customized product. The state could help us to win some tenders for production of brake governors. It would be great if such firms like ours could take soft loans for expansion of production and construction of new sites. In these cases we will be able to employ more PWDs, produce more and offer more benefits to the state.