[Social integration of the disabled worker]

The functional disability produced by an illness or accident destroys the previous social relationship structure of the disabled person, so it is therefore above all an experience of loss. However, the personal experience of disabled persons shows that such negative experience in their private lives can lead to the discovery of new objectives, abandonment of the non-essential, and in the end to the establishment of a new structure of their human and social relationships. There are two significant moments in this development: the voluntary choice between continuity and change in conditions of life; expression of a subjectiveness affirming the values discovered through the experience of loss and demanding their recognition. Accepting this choice and responding to this demand of the disabled person are the two necessary components of any initiative aimed at facilitating social integration.