On 20 June, the Center for Responsible Business and Innovation (CRBI) at Nottingham University Business School China and the Nottingham China Healthcare Institute (NCHI) jointly organised the fourth session of the "Let'S talk!" series. The event invited experts and scholars focusing on the research of disability inclusive employment to discuss how to create a barrier-free work environment for inclusive employment.
At the beginning of the event, Ms Min Rose, Interim Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), gave a welcome speech, introducing the University's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, which aims to create a respectful and inclusive environment that is open to all stakeholders and is free from discrimination. UNNC regularly organises EDI activity weeks to raise awareness of gender equality and diversity.
Mr Luming Sun, Deputy Director of Ningbo Labor and Employment Service Centre for People with Disabilities, also delivered a welcome speech, expressing his gratitude to the Business School for its support of disability and employment, and calling on all sectors of the community to join in to create a barrier-free and discrimination-free social environment.
Later, Professor Zhijun Chen from School of Management at FuDan University delivered a speech titled "Disability Integration and Inclusive Work Design", discussing how inclusive work design can be carried out through task segmentation, social inclusion and multifunctional inclusion to enhance the workplace participation and self-awareness of people with disabilities. Professor Chen particularly mentioned how the short video platform "Kuaishou" provides opportunities for bloggers with disabilities to showcase their talents, achieve economic independence and attain social recognition. He also compared the differences between these bloggers with disabilities and ordinary bloggers in terms of live broadcasting, etc., to demonstrate the digtal development that help people with disabilities have better employment and lives.
Mr Gaoshan Fu, Partner of One Plus One (OPO) Disability Group, used three videos to highlight the difficulties and situations encountered by the disabledin employment, life and social integration, as well as their optimistic and positive mindset when facing these challenges. At the same time, he also called on everyone to change their perception of people with disabilities and their prejudices, and to explore together the greater possibilities of education, employment and life for people with disabilities.
Mr Yaheng Liu, Founder of Jishan Leye (Beijing) Information Technology Service Co., Ltd. also shared his views. By forming foundations, social service institutions, and social enterprises to build a support system, it is possible to effectively connect people with disabilities with the economy and society. He suggested strengthening the value mining of human resources for people with disabilities, effectively connecting with enterprises, creating value, achieving win-win situations, and providing more dignified employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Mr Haiping Zhang, Chief Researcher and Developer of Ningbo Tiantan Information Technology Co., Ltd. demonstrated smart devices used by the disabled to make everyone intuitively appreciate the neglect of the needs of the disabled in current technological developments. He hopes that future product development can be combined with large AI models to help disabled users do more things precisely and efficiently.
The roundtable discussion with guests was moderated by Dr Zhao Cai, Executive Director of NCHI, focusing on "Development of Integrated Employment for People with Disabilities", "Development and Promotion of Employment Models for People with Disabilities", "Education and Skills Training for People with Disabilities", "How to Manage Employees with Disabilities in Enterprises", and "How to Support People with Disabilities in Schools, Enterprises and the Community".
The "Let'S talk!" event series aims to create a platform for exchange and interaction with sustainability and innovation thought leaders, to explore innovative solutions, enhance awareness and practice of sustainability, and facilitate discussion among different stakeholders on how to promote sustainability in their respective fields and daily lives. Professor Jing Dai, Director of CRBI, said that this event focusing on the theme of digital technology and disability-inclusive employment is of great significance in helping people with disabilities to realise their self-worth and integrate into socio-economic activities, as well as promoting social equity and inclusive growth.