SENsational features on pages 44 to 50  in the Ariana Magazine.

Hong Kong should commission a consultancy to explore and compile a list of professions available for the intellectually disabled to help tackle the low employment rate among the group, experts have said. Only 8 per cent of 276 school leavers from special needs institutions in the 2014-15 academic year who had a mild intellectual disability went on to find work, according to official figures. In the United States the employment rate for intellectually disabled people aged between 21 and 64 was 34 per cent in a 2013 study

The research by Chinese University and the Hong Kong Blind Union, a first in the city on employment prospects of this segment in society, centred on visually impaired respondents who were 18 and above between March and April.A total of 136 questionnaires with valid responses were received, of which 70 per cent said the respondent attained tertiary education, with 45 per cent having a bachelor’s degree or above.The survey found only 43 per cent of respondents were employed full time, with 18 per cent unemployed – a figure 6.4 times the overall unemployment rate in the city.

In terms of salary, the monthly median for those polled was HK$11,000, compared with the city’s mark of HK$16,800 (US$2,100).

Over the past five months, Peng Yan, 31, Peng Jiangqiu, 28, and Peng Jiangdan, 25 – who have brittle bone disease – spend up to six hours a day on Kuaishou.com telling stories and singing songs for their 260,000 followers, the Chongqing Evening News reported on Saturday. The women, from Yunyang county in Chongqing, said that before they discovered live-streaming they spent most of their days lying in bed or watching television.In each case, the disease is so severe that they were never able to go to school. But they did manage to learn to read from the captions on television programmes, the report said.The women are cared for and carried around by their 57-year-old father, Peng Boxiang, a former construction worker who was forced to retire 16 years ago after having an accident on site

The Hong Kong government took a U-turn regarding its controversial plan to shut down a job training centre for disabled teens, saying there is a possibility its operator can continue to provide services at a new site under an enhanced mode.The surprise announcement came after weeks of fervent protests from students, parents, and alumni at the decision to close the facility. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor revealed in her October policy address that the government would redevelop the 118,000 sq ft site in Kwun Tong, which currently houses the Shine Skills Centre, operated by the Vocational Training Council (VTC)...

Microsoft, Bank of America and CVS are just a few big companies that profit from their proactive employment practices.

For years, companies have maintained low expectations about hiring people with disabilities. Most of these companies believed that employees with disabilities could not perform well in the workplace and that actively hiring them would drag company performance and profits down.

Thankfully, over time, many employers have come to understand that these perceptions are untrue. And new research strongly suggests that the opposite — that hiring people with disabilities is good for business.

A recent study has shown, for the first time, that companies that championed people with disabilities actually outperformed others — driving profitability and shareholder returns. Revenues were 28 percent higher, net income 200 percent higher, and profit margins 30 percent higher. Companies that improved internal practices for disability inclusion were also four times more likely to see higher total shareholder returns.

Marks & Spencer has been praised by thousands online after launching a clothing range specifically designed for children with disabilities.

The supermarket and fashion retailer has achieved what is said to be a “high street first” with the launch of its “easy dressing” range.

Designed to make getting dressed less stressful for children and their parents, the line is made with special needs in mind, and includes clothes made with extra space for casts as well as ones with discreet pockets for feeding tubes

Two Japanese government ministries have confessed to inflating the number of persons with disabilities they employ so as to meet a legal quota, with many more agencies suspected of padding data in the latest records management scandal to hit the country.

The practice, said to have lasted for over 40 years in some cases, is the latest dent in Japan's reputation for reliability which took a beating last year, following a spate of data-tampering cases by manufacturers like Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials and Toray Industries, and carmakers such as Nissan and Subaru

A seven-year-old double amputee from Birmingham has been chosen by River Island to model the high street store’s latest activewear collection for children.

Daisy Demetree had both of her legs amputated when she was 18 months old due to a birth defect.

She started modelling six months ago after she was signed to Zebedee Management, an agency which specialises in clients with disabilities.Since then, she has taken part in a number of childrenswear campaigns and has walked the catwalk at London Fashion Week.