Assessment and Ontological Modeling of Physical and Cognitive Impairments to Foster the Employment of People with Disabilities

This contribution introduces a novel ontology-based Decision Support System for the employment of People with Disabilities (PwD). The employment of PwD is essential for their quality of life, and in Italy this activity is often performed by non-profit or social utilities organizations, which act as “recruiters” for the effective placement of PwD. However, the process of assessing and measuring individual's disabilities and job's demands (including workplace characteristics) is far from trivial and is characterized by opacity. Thus, this paper proposes to formalize the process through an ontology able to match PwD candidates with suitable jobs. The contribution introduces the problem at hand, with particular reference to the Italian context, and illustrates the ontology engineering process, conducted in a collaborative way with the aim of formalizing the know-how and expertise of recruiters from social utilities organizations. Future works foresee the development of more matching rules pertaining different aspects of a job and the development of a social workers-dedicated application.