The Federal Government’s Commissioner for the Disabled, Jürgen Dusel, criticizes the fact that thousands of academics with disabilities are unable to get work. “It has to do with prejudice,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency. “We have thousands of academics with disabilities who can’t get a job in Germany.” The country can no longer afford that.
“There is no job in Germany, I really don’t know of any, that cannot be filled by a person with a severe disability if the conditions are right,” said Dusel. According to him, people with severe disabilities are unemployed more often and for significantly longer periods of time than people without disabilities.
This imbalance also leads to economic inequality: According to the federal government’s third participation report on the living situations of people with disabilities, a large proportion of people with disabilities (43 percent) cannot save or save money. For people without disabilities, however, it is only 28 percent. In addition, the net assets of people with disabilities (on average 91,150 euros) differ from those of people without disabilities (on average 118,063 euros).
“It is certainly the case that families in which disabled children live – and these are often single mothers – have a higher risk of poverty,” added Dusel.
