“The work changes my world”: a survey on the experiences of the unemployed people with disabilities over 40 in Lombardy

Abstract

According to the literature, people over the age of 40 are at risk of being excluded
from the labour market. The situation of those who are in possession
of a disability certificate is particularly critical: they could (should be
able to?) take advantage of their right to be employed within organizations,
but find themselves without a job. Through in-depth interviews we collected
the experiences of twenty disabled workers who had been unemployed
for at least two years, and went to the Bergamo employment center to renew
their enrollment on the unemployment register. The interviews were
analyzed using a phenomenological approach and the results show that this
experience has four key aspects: personal identity, the desire e to be more
useful to the company, personal and family balance, and lack of faith in the
future.