9-01-05, 10:12 am

Havana, (AIN).- With the implementation of a program for the economic integration of the disabled, more than 1,000 handicapped people have obtained employment in Cuba this year .

Gricel Guzman, an expert with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, told the AIN news agency that the program is based on special workshops and training centers.

The beneficiaries, Guzman explained, are members of Cuban associations of physically disabled, blind and deaf people. The program also now includes mentally disabled people based on the recommendation of a national psycho-pedagogical study carried out in 2002.

Positions are assigned according to each person's abilities and training provided in fields that include crafts, gardening and tapestry.

Guzman explained that before undertaking a job, those who are mentally challenged attend employment training centers for two years. In those cases where the students are still not ready to work at the end of their training period, they receive assistance through other programs, she said.

Cuba's unemployment rate of 1.9 percent is among the lowest in the world. 'Our goal is to eliminate the problem and to meet all people's right to study and work, said Guzman.

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