Supported Employment and Social Inclusion – Experiences of Workers with Disabilities in Wage Subsidized Employment in Sweden

Labour market policies targeting people with disabilities primarily focus on establishing a working life based on reaching and procuring employment. Less attention is directed towards the qualitative aspects of working conditions or opportunities to retain employment. This study seeks to examine how people with disabilities who, with the help of Supported Employment (SE) methods, are establishing themselves in the labour market, experience social inclusion at their workplaces and how their working conditions influence their experiences with social inclusion. Data were collected in semi-structured interviews. Two themes were prominent in the interviewees’ experiences with social inclusion: the importance of being a valued worker and the sense of social belonging. Competence is important to feeling valued, as is working in fair working conditions. Disclosure of disability often helps to create fairness. The sense of social belonging arises from natural support and mattering to others. Important conditions that increase social inclusion are job-matching and natural support. The SE method can therefore contribute to the creation of social inclusion by ensuring that the matching process is well thought out and by utilizing strategies for inclusion, such as encouragement of natural support.