청년 발달장애인의 취업을 위한 어머니의 개입활동

초록

This study addresses research findings on why and how mothers get involved in supporting job search and working life of their grown children with developmental disabilities, by drawing from an inductive content analysis of interview data. The main reason for mothers’ active involvement is identified in two aspects: the first is the desperate need for disabled youth’s social participation to prevent them from becoming retrograded and lethargic and reduce their parents’ burden of disabled child-caring. The second reason is the reality that disabled youth has experienced exclusion, disregard, and discrimination in job search and working life. In order to cope with limited job opportunities and poor working conditions that youth with severe disabilities face, their mothers assume roles of active supporters to find jobs, enhance working conditions, and create disabled-friendly workplaces by utilizing their social networks and building solidarity self-support groups. Our study presents interesting findings in contrast to the existing research literature, in that mothers’ social network is actively utilized for facilitating the disabled youth’s employment and expanded into the open and solidarity ones. In light that mothers’ support activities are mainly derived from the insufficiency of government policy to assist employment of the severe disabled youth, it is underlined as a policy implication that the state should develop and implement inclusive social policy packages for guaranteeing the social integration and work rights of the severe disabled youth as well as correcting the excluded and discriminated reality of their employment and working places.

키워드