Social inclusion requires more than just economic inclusion or employment. True social inclusion means having equal access to community benefits and services, as well as opportunities for social and civic participation. However, people with disabilities still face significant barriers to social inclusion, including lack of necessary skills, segregation from community life, and negative attitudes. Overcoming these barriers requires addressing factors at the individual, community, and systemic levels. Developing social competencies, such as social skills, self-concept, and ability to interpret social cues, is important for enhancing social inclusion and reducing exclusion of people with disabilities.

1. Social Skills At The Centre Of
Inclusion
From economic inclusion to
social inclusion using social
competences.
Karel Van Isacker
Phoenixkm BVBA, Belgium,
karel@phoenixkm.eu

2. EU28 wasteland when it comes to the
employment of people with disabilities
• Estimated 80 million EU citizens have
a disability
▫ characterised by low employment shares
▫ relatively high unemployment or
inactivity shares
▫ inactivity status ranges from 21% in
Austria to 78% in the United Kingdom

3. But does employability define
inclusion?
• There are also the values of dignity, autonomy
and equality that accompany inclusion.
▫ Key EU principles
▫ Supported also by the UN’s human rights treaty,
the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNCRPD) to which the EU is a
signatory.
▫ They provide the core concepts of self-
determination, participation and inclusion.

4. EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights
• Prohibits the discrimination on the ground of
disability and recognises the right of disabled
people to integration and inclusion
• BUT:
▫ segregating disabled people from society still
occurs
▫ inclusion has mainly been an employability driven
policy: sheltered employment, regulation and
employment quota obligations, vocational training
and rehabilitation programmes as well as labour
market measures

5. Are people included because they are
employed?
• NO!
▫ They might still be below the poverty line.
▫ Associated impacts on health and social isolation
▫ Solutions tend to be primarily top-down, whereby
those who experience social exclusion have few
active roles in determining the solutions.

6. When is there true inclusion?
• When also social inclusion
is addressed.
• “Acceptance of the
dominant societal values
and lifestyle, leading to
moralistic judgements if
individuals reject the
dominant norms.”
BlueAssist initiative in
Flanders, Belgium

7. What does social exclusion stand for?
• In the past there was a massive denial of the
essential humanity of people with disabilities
• Six common constructions, or ways of
understanding and picturing disability.
▫ People with disabilities are different from fully human
people
▫ The successful "handicapped" person is superhuman
▫ The burden of disability is unending
▫ A disability is a sickness, something to be fixed
▫ People with disabilities are a menace to others
▫ People with disabilities, especially cognitive
impairments, are holy innocents

9. Segregation
• A pervasive and entrenched segregation
of people with disabilities from
community life took place, resulting in a
profound social devaluation of people
with disabilities.
• Be a full and valued member of family
and society, have a full life in the
community with the best prospects in
life, at home, at school and at work.
Necessitates a different
way of thinking

10. Social inclusion
• Social inclusion is often seen as a remedy to
combat social exclusion, without defining social
inclusion as a term in its own right.
• “Social inclusion must come down to
somewhere to live, something to do, someone to
love”
▫ Social inclusion should be interpreted in terms of
social and civic participation, including
consumption, saving, production, political and
social activity

11. Social inclusion vs. Economic inclusion
• Social inclusion cannot be realised separately from
economic, social, political, neighbourhood and
spatial, individual and group factors.
• The notion of social capital contributes
considerably to social inclusion:
▫ human trust, mutuality and reciprocity and acting so
that people can benefit as individuals, groups and
members in society
▫ social networking (incl. interpersonal contacts) and the
opportunity to build up personal and social potential,
which are fundamentally important for both
employment and community participation

12. Social inclusion is at the same time
the “glue” and the end product
• Process of:
▫ ensuring people have equal access to the benefits
and services enjoyed by other members of the
community in order that they are not excluded;
▫ supporting people in accessing resources and
developing capacity building skills so they may
remain connected to the community in difficult times;
▫ developing people’s opportunities through their
experiences of family and community;
▫ ensuring individuals can identify their needs, give
feedback on their environment, and influence and
take charge of their futures.

13. Barriers to social inclusion
• Social inclusion and exclusion are often
measured by mixing indicators taken from
secondary data sources, such as the ones used
by the OECD in its report ”transforming disability
into ability”.
• Another approach could be to study them
through the lens and experiences of people with
disabilities, using qualitative user surveys.
• Very little research has been done.

14. Barriers to social inclusion
• From the perspective of people with intellectual
disabilities (UK study):
▫ lack of necessary knowledge and skills; role of support
staff and service mangers; location of house; and
community factors such as lack of amenities and
attitudes
▫ Participants were able to identify a range of solutions
for these barriers. Most of their proposals were in line
with the aims of current government policy and good
practice.
 individuals could contribute to the planning of local
services for themselves and others.

15. Barriers to social inclusion
• UK survey of the stigma, taboos and discrimination
experienced by people with mental health problems:
▫ (69%) of people had been put off applying for jobs for fear of
unfair treatment;
▫ half (50%) of people felt unfairly treated by general health care
services;
▫ almost half (47%) of the people had been abused or harassed in
public, and some (14%) had been physically attacked;
▫ almost half (45%) of people thought that discrimination had
increased in the last 5 years compared with 18% who thought it
had decreased;
▫ a third of people (34%) said they had been dismissed or forced to
resign from jobs;
▫ a third (33%) complained that their general practitioner had
treated them unfairly;
▫ …

16. Barriers to social inclusion
• A recent study found that 9 out of 10 people in
Britain have never had a disabled person in
their house for a social occasion!

17. Barriers to social inclusion
• Social inclusion means to people with a learning
disability:
▫ talking to people, being and feeling accepted,
involvement in the community, and being able to grasp
offered opportunities are commented on and
assessed.
▫ Main barriers:
 abilities and skills e.g. poor knowledge of the area;
 staff and management e.g. not allowed to go out alone;
 the community e.g. name calling and bullying;
 the home / scheme e.g. few community facilities nearby.

18. Overcoming barriers to social inclusion
• Suggested solutions for persons with a learning
disability
▫ Personal Ability and Skills
 Access to appropriate skills training (literacy
/numeracy/ budgeting/ independent travel).
 Getting to know the neighbourhood.
 Encouragement from staff to socialise.
 Information, access and encouragement towards a
healthy lifestyle.

19. Overcoming barriers to social inclusion
• Suggested solutions for persons with a learning
disability
▫ The community
 Education of the community – schools etc.
 Accessible information provided on activities / events
 Make links with community through Open Days in
services
 More advocates and volunteers to accompany individuals
 Increased use of existing (mainstream) facilities and
activities

20. Social competences
• A prerequisite to be able to function in society
and take up the social inclusion at its full extent.
▫ “Complex, multidimensional concept consisting of
social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioural
skills, as well as motivational and expectancy sets
needed for successful social adaptation. Social
competence also reflects having an ability to take
another's perspective concerning a situation, learn
from past experiences, and apply that learning to
the changes in social interactions.”

22. Social competences deficits
• Social competence deficits have become a defining
characteristic of individuals with specific learning
disability that create a barrier towards their social
inclusion.
▫ skill deficit (refers to those instances when an individual
has never learned the required social or cognitive skill to
use in a particular social situation)
▫ performance deficit ( refers to those instances when an
individual has learned a social skill but fails to perform in
the appropriate situation)
▫ self-control deficit (refers to those instances when an
individual’s lack of self-control results in negative
behaviours, which interfere with both acquiring and
performing appropriate social skills).

23. Acquiring social competences
• SGSCC - Serious Games for Social & Creativity Competence
(http://games4competence.eu/)
• Addresses an array of aspects of social competence that support
social inclusion
▫ Skill to build up peer relations;
▫ The concept of the “self” whereby the individual supported in having
similar levels of self-concept, or feelings of self-worth and -esteem in
different areas (work, social life);
▫ The social skills that include the skills to interact with others such as
outgoing, initiating, and cooperating behaviour;
▫ The social perceptions whereby social cues from others are correctly
interpreted to avoid the display of inappropriate or unexpected
behaviour; and finally the attributions that refer to the individual's ideas
concerning the cause of events ( their successes and failures may be
attributed to factors such as luck or others' efforts rather than to their
own efforts (e.g. working hard).

24. Thank you.