Decent work is the most effective means for people with disabilities of escaping poverty

According to an ILO expert, Ms. Annie Rice, greater focus should be placed on the inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream employment. This implies a shift from exclusion, sheltered workshops and quota systems to equality of opportunity and integration, to anti-discrimination legislation and measures. Decent work is the most effective means for people with disabilities of escaping the often vicious circle of marginalisation, poverty and social exclusion.

As the ILO film shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. As Dr. Adam Czarnecki, CEO of ARC Market and Opinion Research Centre says on the film, "I am very satisfied with the employees with disabilities. It comes from the fact that they know it is hard to find a job with so many reluctant employers, and they do their best to be good employees". Or as Hanna Woźnica, sign language interpreter at Carrefour, says of her impaired hearing group: they "are great. They are people who don't need things repeating twice, they don't make mistakes. Working with them is terrific".

Both the film and an earlier ILO study challenge the "cost" argument of hiring people with disabilities. They show that the costs of adapting the workplace are low or even neutral, and that there is a perceptive positive change in attitudes amongst employees who work with disabled colleagues, which has a noticeable effect on productivity.

In addition, the cost of excluding disabled persons from the active labour market is staggering. The costs associated with maintaining workers' compensation systems and disability benefits, workplaces for disabled persons, losses in taxes and other revenues from disabled persons who might otherwise work if opportunities were open to them in Poland amount to 8.9 billion USD, or 9.6% of GDP, annually . These economic costs to society are shared by all, including business.

For the protagonists of the film, disability is no longer an issue at work. They are not "disabled" but simply valued, productive members of the companies they work for. And just like any other employee, they benefit from their companies' culture of relying on dependable employees.