'Disabled people could be an asset to local employers'
The Hong Kong Social Workers Association (HKSWA) on Friday urged local employers to recruit more disabled people when considering their hiring needs.  It said the number of disabled people who had attained a bachelor's degree from eight UGC-funded universities tripled to around 1,500 in the academic year spanning 2023 to 2024, compared to four years ago. The HKSWA recommended that companies be given training before hiring people with disabilities, so they can be assigned tasks according to their strengths. Athena Ng, who is visually impaired, said she was worried about communicating with her peers in the workplace. "Most people rely on visuals on when they communicate. For example, they would point at a particular object when referring to it. But the visually impaired are unable to [do that], leading to communication issues," she said. Ng now works for a product development company that cooperates with the Hong Kong Blind Union to train the disabled as badminton racket stringers. Director Kwan Wing-fai revealed his company has employed four disabled persons - all but one suffered from hearing difficulties. He was concerned about their working abilities to begin with, but he found these worries were unfounded as they performed even better than able-bodied people. "They completed the project on time and even completed it earlier than our target. I think they give me the confidence to employ the disabled again," Kwan said. Ricky Kwan from the HKSWA's Professional Development Committee said many non-governmental organisations are doing a good job in supporting people with disabilities by providing them with training and counselling services. "But I think the government may do more, for example, the government can support NGOs, to give more resources to NGOs to promote or support enterprises to foster an inclusive culture in the business sector."