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View all search resultsIn tight labor market, disabled persons call for fair chance at jobs
While a law has mandated private and public firms to allocate up to 2 percent of their positions for people with disabilities, weak oversight on the provision's implementation and lingering stigma put disabled people at a disadvantage while looking for jobs.
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People with disabilities visit booths during a job fair designated for people who are disabled at the Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta on Nov. 3, 2025. The job fair offered 107 positions specially designated for disabled people. (Antara/Asprilla Dwi Adha)
F
or Farah Mubbina, the last couple of months have mostly been about job hunting. But for a person who was born deaf, she has found that fighting for a spot in an increasingly competitive job market in male-dominated fields is far from easy.
She has applied for more than eight jobs since her contract with a private firm ended in July, but to no avail until now.
“There were a few companies that might not be ready to communicate with deaf persons, so they stopped the recruitment process midway,” the 26-year-old graphic designer and photographer told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Despite the rejections, she remains optimistic about securing employment: “As a woman with a disability, I just have to prove that my work is equally good.”
While the general employment condition in Jakarta is dire, the situation is much worse for people with disabilities, who have to overcome more hurdles in obtaining full-time jobs due to weak government oversight and lingering stigma, as experts have pointed out.
Farah is hardly the only person with disabilities in the city who faces a hard time in securing permanent employment.
Earlier in her career, engineer Qurrata A’yuna, 29, faced companies that were often unsure about accommodating people with disabilities, especially a wheelchair user like her. She lost her legs after being injured in the 2009 earthquake in her hometown of Padang, West Sumatra, and has since been using a wheelchair.
