What I.F. people with disabilities could use their abilities to enrich their workplace?
According to the World Health Organization, there are over 466 million people with disabling hearing loss worldwide*. Although twenty-four-year-old Zurae Dahlia is one of these people, her inspiring story proves that you can always choose to take the ‘dis’ out of a ‘disability’.
Born three months prematurely, Zurae suffered complications at birth, which led to almost complete hearing loss. As a child, she struggled to communicate with others, but as time went by, she learnt how to use different forms of communication and slowly developed lip-reading skills. Her mother was a seamstress, and Zurae found herself drawn towards this profession. In 2017, she started attending sewing training, and she also got married. Once she completed her training, the newly-weds moved to Denpasar and immediately started looking for work. Both deaf, the couple struggled to find the right job.
Thankfully, they were introduced to DNetwork, an interactive platform that helps people with disabilities find employment. After applying for jobs through DNetwork’s job board, Zurae was offered a job as a seamstress at Cok Konfeksi, a subsidiary of Krisna Holding Company, which is the largest gift centre in Bali. Zurae immediately accepted the job offer and started working, which allowed her to financially support both herself and her husband while he was still looking for employment. After a few months, Zurae’s husband was offered a job at Alfamart, after he was connected with the company through DNetwork.
“Without DNetwork, my family probably wouldn’t have any money right now”
Working with her disability was challenging in the beginning, but Zurae was motivated to progress. Because the salary is based on the volume of production, Zurae is now earning much more than when she started as she has now become extremely efficient. Her dream is to open her own clothing company one day, together with her husband. The sewing experience she is currently gaining at Cok Konfeksi and the money she is saving is bringing that dream closer to a reality for her.
The company is very happy with Zurae and her performance at work. In fact, through DNetwork, Krisna has also hired ten other people with disabilities within their subsidiaries.
Zurae Dahlia and Pak Komang Arjana, Production Manager of Cok Konfeksi, with three other deaf employees
“We want to offer the same work opportunities for everyone. If applicants have a willingness to learn and to work, then we are happy to help them develop their skills here”
Krisna is one of over 200 local companies that have partnered with DNetwork to offer work opportunities for people with disabilities. Since its launch in 2013, over 240 job seekers with disabilities have been connected to employment, proving that it’s what you can do that counts.
Inspirasia is proud to be a core supporter of DNetwork.