title: The blind in the economic structure of Switzerland: an analysis of some aspects of vocational integration.
abstract: This empirical investigation describes the present state of vocational integration of blind persons in Switzerland. The study is based on interviews of 215 blind persons--not multiply handicapped--who left a Swiss special school or rehabilitation center in the period 1960 to 1978. The study investigated the following dimensions: - vocational situation and opportunities in a horizontal comparison; - vocational situation and opportunities in a vertical comparison; - level of wage or salary; - subjective work satisfaction. The results of the investigation show that the degree of vocational integration attained by blind interviewees may be regarded as high. If, on the other hand, the forecast should prove correct that in the 80ies Switzerland, too, can expect a higher rate of unemployment, the efforts aimed at improving the qualification prerequisites for vocational integration of the blind deserve attention. Particular emphasis must be placed - in education, on the teaching of greater social competence; - in counseling and placement, on the provision of suitable measures for qualified training and/or retraining; - in further education, on the dynamic advancement of personal needs in regard to further training, the latter understood as "permanent training".
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000191:economics* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012943:Social Security; D013557:Switzerland