1. FINLAND Ladies and Gentlemen, I am most grateful and honored to make a presentation about Finland for such a great and professional audience. Thank you very much! Finland is a country in northern Europe, between Sweden and Russia. It is a member country of the European Union. Even though the size of the country area is about the same as Japan, however, the population of Finland is only 5.3 million people, which is only 4 % compared with the population of Japan’s 127 million.

2. Finnish is the main language, but a minority of 5 % are speaking Swedish. Finland is a small country, famous of the thousands of lakes, with a lot of snow and northern lights (Aurora) in the winter, but a green and warm summer. Other things that have made Finland famous, you may recognize the Moomin characters and Nokia mobile phones. In Finland there are about 40 000 persons with intellectual disabilities, which is 0.8 % of the population.

3. FDUV, the association I am representing, stands for the Swedish-speaking persons with intellectual disability. FDUV is working on behalf of persons with intellectual disability and their families. FDUV promotes equal opportunities and human rights, and opposes discrimination among persons with intellectual disability. Under the Finnish Constitution, persons with intellectual disability have the same rights as all other Finnish citizens. The mission of FDUV is to provide support for its members, protect and develop the social equality and rights of the intellectually disabled and their families, and act to promote its members’ quality of life.

4. Persons with intellectual disability have the equal right to be born and to live a valued life, the right to have sufficient and high-quality rehabilitation services and the right to life-long learning and to an independent life. They are also entitled to meaningful work and day activity as well as to individually supported housing. They also have the right to culture and the right to age with dignity. In order to implement its basic tasks, FDUV collects and distributes information, tests, develops and trains its members as well as speaks on their behalf in various networks and cooperation structures. FDUV also plays a significant role as an influencer in society. Much work still remains to be done, for example in regards to changing people’s attitudes.

5. Working Support and Daily activities in Finland Finland has a legislation which guarantees social services, support and security for people with disabilities, but we further have a special legislation, which guarantees even more support for people with intellectual disability. This special legislation also guarantees daily activities for people with intellectual disability.

6. As previously mentioned, the population in Finland is 5,3 million, of which 0,8 % or 40 000 are classified as persons with intellectual disability. 15 000 persons with intellectual disability take part in some kind of work or daily activities. Most of them are working in Labor centers and people with severe disabilities work in Day centers, where they get more support of specialized personnel taking care of their needs.

7. In Finland most people with intellectual disability go to specialized schools, and after that they have the right to receive vocational education and training, which in average takes about 3 years. This vocational training period is governed by the Vocational Education Act in Finland, which guarantees this training to be provided for free. Under this vocational training period the person is supported economically by the governmental social insurance institution of Finland, called KELA. During the training, rehabilitation support or disability allowance is provided.

8. After this education and training period, the big challenge remains to find a job. In Finland we work according to an international method, called Supported Employment. Very few persons with intellectual disability, however, get a decent job true this method, whereas only 300 people of 15 000 have a work with a proper salary. There still remain a lot of people with disability, who are working on the open labor market, without a decent salary, because they are considered to get sufficient income from care allowance for pensioners, supported by the government.

9. People with intellectual disability work with: Supported employment (open labor market) 300 persons Labor center work or day center activity 7 700 persons Out location work(open labor market)2 300 persons Supported Employment means that you work as an employer and are paid under contract as anybody else. You don’t have any kind of allowance for pensioners. The disabled worker gets assistance of a consultant worker. Out location work means that the person with intellectual disability get a labor compensation (max. 12 euro per day) and get the main income from care allowance for pensioners. The whole income is about 1 000–1 200 euro per month, depending on labor compensation.

10. FDUV has initiated two large projects to promote equal job and career opportunities for people with intellectual disability. Hop Skip Jump Work through co-operation The mission is to promote a better communication and cooperation through optimized structures and procedures between employers, the individual person with disability, the authorities and the social profit sector.

11. The first project was an EU-supported project “EQUAL” with five project partner countries; Austria, Belgium, Hungary, The Netherlands and Finland. The project was called “Hop Skip Jump”. This combination name reflects the purpose and objectives of the project, namely: HOP to gather information SKIP to extract good practice and add innovative approaches JUMP to implement and disseminate best practice in reality

12. The mission of “Hop Skip Jump” was to create a win-win situation for all, stakeholders, the disabled worker, the employer, the authorities and the support providers. In order to realize this, following conditions should be fulfilled: Promoting co-operation and communication between stakeholders Exchanging of good practices and innovate inputs Raising awareness on the need of systematic communication Meeting the needs of the employer and the needs of the disabled worker

13. The central idea was co-operation, with a target to stimulate employers on the labor market to employ persons with intellectual disability. In every region were established Forum Groups, represented by stakeholders, authorities, employers and disabled persons themselves. The purpose of these Forums Groups was to meet, educate, provide information and discuss how to co-operate. The project offered training for the whole group. Persons with intellectual disability were provided training in what it means to have a job on the open labor market, and employers were informed about support from the authorities when employing persons with disability. The second project “Work through co-operation” is a national Finnish project, which was a spin-off project built on the afore mentioned “Hop Skip Jump” project. The project was promoted by a large campaign all over the country, which then was economically supported by the Finnish Lutheran church.

14. FDUV is working hard for providing possibilities for people with intellectual disability to get a proper work or activity corresponding with their capabilities. The person with an intellectual disability is also a person with labor disability, who meets many barriers on different levels. Therefore, it is important to focus on those areas in their life which really affect the possibilities to get a proper job on the labor market. People with disability are, first of all, people who, just as anybody else, have social, psychological, economical and spiritual needs. The fact, that they are disabled, is secondary.

15. When talking about work, but the same goes for any other domain of life, the rule is: “As normal as possible, but special as needed” Thank you very much! Lisbeth Hemgård FDUV, director Master of Social Sciences Lisbeth.hemgard@fduv.fi