Many of the education institutions of Moldova are not adjusted for the children with special educational needs (SENs), while the finding of employment is a real challenge for the young people with such needs. In a news conference at IPN, executive director of the Criuleni-based public association “Woman and child, protection and support” Victoria Secu said the attitude is more positive in the settlements where there are nongovernmental organizations that sensitize the community to the needs of children and young people with SENs.

“There are organizations and institutions that have instruments enabling them to change the situation of the children with special educational needs, but the people’s attitude should also change. The law on the social inclusion of persons with disabilities guarantees the right to work and stipulates the commitments that the employers should assume to ensure this right. But there are no mechanisms for enforcing the legislation and practice shows that the employers avoid hiring persons with disabilities for a number of reasons,” stated Victoria Secu.

There were cases when persons with disabilities were dismissed shortly after being employed. “One cannot hire a person with disabilities when there are no competitive training programs by which the potential of every person could be fully realized. There are a series of necessities revealing the imperfection of the legislative framework and it’s our duty to take concrete steps to change the mentality,” said the executive director of the public association “Woman and child, protection and support”.

Victoria Secu also said that there is no clear definition of disability and the public associations face a serious of methodological problems because of this. The foreign partners encounter thus difficulties in collecting relevant data.