People with physical or mental disabilities are to be helped to find jobs more easily via a new web platform set up by MyHandicap Foundation.

The foundation said on Wednesday that it wants to bring employers and job seekers together, and to motivate and encourage disabled people to look for work.

The platform, using the slogan “Jobs for the disabled – the disabled for jobs”, provides information and advice, and enables job seekers to register their profiles and search job offers.

The initiative comes against the background of planned changes to the law on invalidity benefits aimed at bringing more disabled people back into the work force. Support organisations have criticised these plans as an exercise in money saving, and say employers have not been sufficiently involved, and are not offering enough jobs.

The MyHandicap initiative is being backed by a number of personalities from the world of politics and business, and by the Employers’ Association and Federal Social Insurance Office.

It depends on close cooperation with political, administrative and economic partners, and is designed as a long-term project.

The job page is currently available in German and French; an Italian version is planned.

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