The emerging paradigm of ``Agentic Employment" is a labor model where autonomous AI agents, acting as economic principals rather than mere management tools, directly hire, instruct, and pay human workers. Facilitated by the launch of platforms like Rentahuman.ai in February 2026, this shift inverts the traditional ``ghost work" dynamic, positioning visible human workers as ``biological actuators" for invisible software entities. With speculative design approach, we analyze how Extended Reality (XR) serves as the critical ``control surface" for this relationship, enabling agents to issue granular, context-free micro-instructions while harvesting real-time environmental data. Through a scenario construction methodology, we identify seven key risk vectors, including the creation of a liability void where humans act as moral crumple zones for algorithmic risk, the acceleration of cognitive deskilling through ``Shadow Boss" micromanagement, and the manipulation of civic and social spheres via Diminished Reality (DR). The findings suggest that without new design frameworks prioritizing agency and legibility, Agentic Employment threatens to reduce human labor to a friction-less hardware layer for digital minds, necessitating urgent user-centric XR and policy interventions.
With the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, many U.S. employers announced they would reimburse employees for abortion-related travel expenses. This action complements increasingly common employer policies subsidizing employee access to assisted reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilization and egg freezing. This article reflects on why employers offer these benefits and whether they enhance or undermine reproductive justice. From the employer's perspective, abortion and assisted reproductive technologies help women to plan childbearing around the demands of their jobs. Both are associated with delayed childbirth and reduced fertility, which lower the costs of motherhood to employers. However, firm subsidization of these services does not further reproductive justice because it reifies structures which incentivize women to delay childbirth and reduce fertility, and it reinforces economic and reproductive inequalities. We conclude by questioning whether reproductive justice is possible without transforming the economy so that it prioritizes care over profits.
Nature plays a crucial role in human health and well-being, but little is known about how blind people experience and relate to it. We conducted a survey of nature relatedness with blind (N=20) and sighted (N=20) participants, along with in-depth interviews with 16 blind participants, to examine how blind people engage with nature and the factors shaping this engagement. Our survey results revealed lower levels of nature relatedness among blind participants compared to sighted peers. Our interview study further highlighted: 1) current practices and challenges of nature engagement, 2) attitudes and values that shape engagement, and 3) expectations for assistive technologies that support safe and meaningful engagement. We also provide design implications to guide future technologies that support nature engagement for blind people. Overall, our findings illustrate how blind people experience nature beyond vision and lay a foundation for technologies that support inclusive nature engagement.
Lara Astudillo, Cecilia Simón, Maria Luz M. Fernández Blázquez
Support in the context of inclusive education is pivotal, yet many countries struggle with integrating the evolving role of support teachers within inclusive frameworks. For that reason, some challenges and reluctance can be found in relation to the development of the functions of these professionals. Therefore, a way forward would be to clarify the role and responsibilities of support teachers in fostering inclusive educational environments. This paper aims to contribute to this discourse by conducting a narrative review of existing research on the functions of support teachers. Special attention is paid to their contributions in the construction of inclusive educational contexts. The review, which was inspired by the guidelines of the PRISMA statement, yielded 23 final studies. Four professional roles were identified: direct care-assistance, consultative-collaborative, administrative-documentary, and coordinator-leadership. Furthermore, the findings indicate that there is a predominance of individual or small group support practices outside the regular classrooms. The need to implement collaborative practices to generate support networks at both school and community levels is emphasized. Three major themes were identified as the primary challenges: teacher training, collaboration among educators, and school curricula, particularly in the post-primary stages. Orientations for rethinking the role of support teachers from an inclusive approach are outlined in the discussion.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Konstantinos Mastrothanasis, Angelos Gkontelos, Maria Kladaki
et al.
The present study focuses on investigating the contribution of puppetry as a pedagogical and psychosocial tool in special education, addressing the literature gap in the systematic documentation of the experiences of special education teachers, concerning its use in daily teaching practice. The main objective is to capture the way in which puppetry enhances the learning, social and therapeutic support of students with complex educational and psychosocial needs. The study employs a qualitative phenomenological approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with eleven special education teachers who integrate puppetry into their teaching. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings highlight that puppetry significantly enhances cognitive function, concentration, memory and language development, while promoting the active participation, cooperation, social inclusion and self-expression of students. In addition, the use of the puppet acts as a means of psycho-emotional empowerment, supporting positive behavior and helping students cope with stress and behavioral difficulties. Participants identified peer support, material adequacy and training as key factors for effective implementation, while conversely, a lack of resources and time is cited as a key obstacle. The integration of puppetry in everyday school life seems to ameliorate a more personalized, supportive and experiential learning environment, responding to the diverse and complex profiles of students attending special schools. Continuous training for teachers, along with strengthening the collaboration between the arts and special education, is essential for the effective use of puppetry in the classroom.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Nettie N. Ndou-Chikwena, Maximus M. Sefotho, Nausheen Ameen
Background: Research on experiences of mothers with children living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has predominantly focused on psychological distress and caregiving burdens, presenting deficit-centred narratives which inadequately capture other complex narratives of single mothers.
Objectives: This study explored the experiences of a South African single mother, Buhle, in raising a daughter with ASD, focusing on resilience development and acceptance within cultural contexts where ASD and her social status are misunderstood. The study adopts neurodiversity theory and the concept of resilience as its conceptual framework.
Method: Employing an interpretivism paradigm and a single case study research design, data were collected through semi-structured and unstructured interviews. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Johannesburg. Buhle provided informed consent, allowing her information to be used for research.
Results: Narrative analysis was used to delve deeply into Buhle’s personal and emotional experiences. These narrative themes emerged: navigating the initial trauma of prognosis and diagnosis, building a network of understanding, managing resources without shared responsibilities and transforming challenges to empowerment through social networking, education and advocacy.
Conclusion: The findings challenge deficit narratives by revealing how some single mothers can foster resilience despite significant challenges in raising neurodivergent children in an African cultural context. The South African government’s provision of social and economic support also partly enables resilience.
Contribution: Community-based initiatives should boost public awareness and alleviate the cultural stigma surrounding neurodevelopmental conditions; prioritise resilience, strategy sharing, and advocacy to empower single mothers from survival to empowerment. Public healthcare support services must be improved.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Communities. Classes. Races
Ali Abedi, Sadaf Safa, Tracey J. F. Colella
et al.
Engagement in virtual learning is essential for participant satisfaction, performance, and adherence, particularly in online education and virtual rehabilitation, where interactive communication plays a key role. Yet, accurately measuring engagement in virtual group settings remains a challenge. There is increasing interest in using artificial intelligence (AI) for large-scale, real-world, automated engagement recognition. While engagement has been widely studied in younger academic populations, research and datasets focused on older adults in virtual and telehealth learning settings remain limited. Existing methods often neglect contextual relevance and the longitudinal nature of engagement across sessions. This paper introduces OPEN (Older adult Patient ENgagement), a novel dataset supporting AI-driven engagement recognition. It was collected from eleven older adults participating in weekly virtual group learning sessions over six weeks as part of cardiac rehabilitation, producing over 35 hours of data, making it the largest dataset of its kind. To protect privacy, raw video is withheld; instead, the released data include facial, hand, and body joint landmarks, along with affective and behavioral features extracted from video. Annotations include binary engagement states, affective and behavioral labels, and context-type indicators, such as whether the instructor addressed the group or an individual. The dataset offers versions with 5-, 10-, 30-second, and variable-length samples. To demonstrate utility, multiple machine learning and deep learning models were trained, achieving engagement recognition accuracy of up to 81 percent. OPEN provides a scalable foundation for personalized engagement modeling in aging populations and contributes to broader engagement recognition research.
Legal work, characterized by its text-heavy and resource-intensive nature, presents unique challenges and opportunities for NLP research. While data-driven approaches have advanced the field, their lack of interpretability and trustworthiness limits their applicability in dynamic legal environments. To address these issues, we collaborated with legal experts to extend an existing dataset and explored the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and in-context learning to evaluate the legality of clauses in German employment contracts. Our work evaluates the ability of different LLMs to classify clauses as "valid," "unfair," or "void" under three legal context variants: no legal context, full-text sources of laws and court rulings, and distilled versions of these (referred to as examination guidelines). Results show that full-text sources moderately improve performance, while examination guidelines significantly enhance recall for void clauses and weighted F1-Score, reaching 80\%. Despite these advancements, LLMs' performance when using full-text sources remains substantially below that of human lawyers. We contribute an extended dataset, including examination guidelines, referenced legal sources, and corresponding annotations, alongside our code and all log files. Our findings highlight the potential of LLMs to assist lawyers in contract legality review while also underscoring the limitations of the methods presented.
The article studies the types and content of social services provided by a specialized career counselor to persons with disabilities in the employment mechanism. It was emphasized that relevant services are provided only to registered unemployed persons with disabilities. A distinction is made between general and personalized information and counseling, as well as professional information and counseling as components of professional orientation. It was concluded that the professional orientation of people with disabilities at the stage of choosing a direction of study for obtaining vocational or higher education will contribute to their effective employment, taking into account individual characteristics and the state of the labor market. The significant role of profiling as an innovative technology in the activities of social services has been identified. Examples of various models of such profiling in foreign countries are given. A comparative analysis of legislative definitions of the same concept in various Laws of Ukraine was conducted. It was concluded that the list of social services and their concepts, enshrined in various Laws of Ukraine, should be unified. It was emphasized that it is necessary to harmonize the Laws of Ukraine «On Employment of the Population», «On Compulsory State Social Insurance in Case of Unemployment», «On Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities». Legislative definitions should be universal and enshrined in the basic law regulating the relevant sphere of relations. All definitions related to the sphere of employment should be enshrined in the Law of Ukraine «On Employment of the Population». Legislative definitions of vocational guidance, vocational training, vocational rehabilitation, and vocational selection need to be revised. The argument is based on the need to establish a standard for employment of people with disabilities: the priority areas for search are areas of work within the profession that a person would choose if they did not have a disability at all. It is justified that vocational training as a form of professional rehabilitation should be provided to persons who have lost contact with the labor market or persons who need additional protection. Everyone else needs to be provided with access to vocational education. The author argues that in the employment search procedure for a person with a disability, the «roadmap» is an individual employment plan. It is the basis for monitoring employment as a comprehensive social service in the field of employment of a person.
Marisa Shenk, Astrid Harnack-Eber, Ankita Patnaik
et al.
Background: Autistic young adults have lower participation rates in vocational or technical education and lower employment compared to young adults with other disabilities. Objective: This study examines the characteristics, service use, and employment outcomes of autistic young adults ages 16 to 28 engaged with state Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies. Method: Regression-based models using 2017–2020 RSA-911 data for young adults ages 16 to 28 who applied for VR services. Results: A higher share of autistic young adult VR applicants were male or non-Hispanic White compared to young adult VR applicants with an intellectual disability or any other kind of disability. Almost half (49 percent) of all young adults on the autism spectrum who exited VR services were employed, compared to 44 percent of young adults with another kind of disability. Educational institutions were the most common source of referral among autistic young adult VR applicants, followed by self-referrals. There were notable differences in service use and outcomes by age, with fewer differences by sex and race/ethnicity. Conclusion: The characteristics of autistic young adult VR applicants underscore their need for supportive services and call for research to understand the causes of disparities to develop policy and practice to promote equitable VR access and outcomes.
JC Allen Ingabire, Aimee Stewart, Jean Baptiste Sagahutu
et al.
Background: Prolonged disability resulting from road traffic injuries (RTIs) contributes significantly to morbidity and disease burden. A good understanding of the prevalence and the level of disability of orthopaedic injuries in developing countries is crucial for improvement; however, such data are currently lacking in Rwanda.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence and levels of disability of 2 years post-road traffic orthopaedic injuries in Rwanda.
Method: A multicentre, cross-sectional study from five Rwandan referral hospitals of 368 adult RTI victims’ sustained from accidents in 2019. Between 02 June 2022, and 31 August 2022, two years after the injury, participants completed the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) Questionnaire for the degree of impairment and the Upper Extremity Functional Scale and Lower-Extremity Functional Scale forms for limb functional evaluation. Descriptive, inferential statistics Chi-square and multinomial regression models were analysed using R Studio.
Results: The study’s mean age of the RTOI victims was 37.5 (±11.26) years, with a sex ratio M: F:3: 1. The prevalence of disability following road traffic orthopedic injury (RTOI) after 2 years was 36.14%, with victims having WHODAS score 25.0% and 36.31% were still unable to return to their usual activities. Age group, Severe Kampala Trauma Score and lack of rehabilitation contributed to disability. The most affected WHODAS domains were participation in society (33%) and life activities (28%).
Conclusion: The prevalence and levels of disability because of RTOI in Rwanda are high, with mobility and participation in life being more affected than other WHODAS domains. Middle-aged and socio-economically underprivileged persons are the most affected.
Contribution: This study showed that a good rehabilitation approach and economic support for the RTI victims would decrease their disabilities in Rwanda.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Communities. Classes. Races
Joana Ribeiro de Faria, Huiyuan Xie, Felix Steffek
Court transcripts and judgments are rich repositories of legal knowledge, detailing the intricacies of cases and the rationale behind judicial decisions. The extraction of key information from these documents provides a concise overview of a case, crucial for both legal experts and the public. With the advent of large language models (LLMs), automatic information extraction has become increasingly feasible and efficient. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the application of GPT-4, a large language model, for automatic information extraction from UK Employment Tribunal (UKET) cases. We meticulously evaluated GPT-4's performance in extracting critical information with a manual verification process to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the extracted data. Our research is structured around two primary extraction tasks: the first involves a general extraction of eight key aspects that hold significance for both legal specialists and the general public, including the facts of the case, the claims made, references to legal statutes, references to precedents, general case outcomes and corresponding labels, detailed order and remedies and reasons for the decision. The second task is more focused, aimed at analysing three of those extracted features, namely facts, claims and outcomes, in order to facilitate the development of a tool capable of predicting the outcome of employment law disputes. Through our analysis, we demonstrate that LLMs like GPT-4 can obtain high accuracy in legal information extraction, highlighting the potential of LLMs in revolutionising the way legal information is processed and utilised, offering significant implications for legal research and practice.
The article analyses the international and national legal guarantees for the implementation of the status of groups of people with low mobility. The article identifies the key principles of international normative acts in the field of rights and freedoms of groups of people with low mobility. Their significance lies in guaranteeing the relevant areas of activity of Ukraine as a State party to create legal, economic, social, and other conditions for ensuring the rights and opportunities of persons with low mobility on an equal footing with other participants in legal relations. The status of implementation of international guarantees of the status of groups of people with low mobility in national legislation is analysed. The Constitution of Ukraine, the primary laws of Ukraine ‘On the Fundamentals of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine’, ‘On the Status of War Veterans, and Guarantees of Their Social Protection’, normative acts of the President of Ukraine “On the National Program of Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities for 2001-2005”, “On Measures to Strengthen Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities; the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine’s regulations on Measures to Improve the Situation of Persons with Disabilities, On Approval of the Action Plan for Creating an Unhindered Living Environment for Persons with Disabilities and Other Low-Mobility Groups for 2009-2015 ‘Barrier-Free Ukraine’, and many others are studied. The implementation of the regulations has resulted in the creation of an unhindered living environment for groups of people with low mobility, the functioning of training courses on creating an unhindered environment for the life of people with disabilities, etc. The author substantiates the view that the provisions of the analysed current legal acts are the basis for the further formation and implementation of the State policy on the development and adoption of State social guarantees in general and for groups of people with low mobility in particular, national standards and technical specifications, and also for conducting research and development and research work on the implementation of the principles of reasonable accommodation and universal design.
Abstract Background Vocational rehabilitation (VR) decreases the number of premature retirements. Pension insurance companies operate private sector employees’ VR in Finland. In 2022, some 15,500 individuals received rehabilitation in this earnings-related pension system. However, the rejection rate was 46%. Similar systems exist throughout OECD. VR facilitates finding suitable work despite an illness. A person is eligible if a threat of disability exists within the next few years and non-medical requirements are met. Currently VR is underused. Thus, it is important to understand which sociodemographic, work- and health-related factors predict a VR rejection. Methods We had full application data from a Finnish insurer for 2015-20. Our data cover roughly 40% of the 2.7M person Finnish working population. We excluded applicants with preceding VR and only included under 58-year-old applicants rejected due to ‘no risk for disability’. Our data comprised age, region of residence, salary, doctor’s assessment grades, diagnosis, industry, and data on preceding sickness, unemployment and rehabilitation benefits. For analysis, we used logistic regression. Results After adjustment, younger age and mental disorders showed largest effects on rejection. Features associated with a less severe medical condition as well as decreased employment were significantly connected to rejection. Industry and place of residence showed no effect. Of note, stable employment and higher pay predict entry possibly due to more possible rehabilitation options and better health in general. Interestingly, people with multiple diagnoses are more likely to be rejected. Conclusions The work-ability of aging European populations could benefit from vocational rehabilitation that better suits mental disorders and younger people. Key messages • Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is an underused method to maintain work ability. • Our study identified groups that could benefit from tailored solutions in VR that decrease barriers to entry.
Kuo-yi Jade Chang, Michelle Villeneuve, Tonia Crawford
et al.
People with disability face heightened vulnerability during disasters due to functional limitations and inadequate support. This study explores disaster preparedness, capabilities, and support needs among Australians with disability. A cross-sectional survey was conducted, aligned with the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) framework: a co-designed and tested framework that helps people with disability assess their capabilities, identify their needs, communicate with others, and plan for different emergency scenarios. Data collection involved self-administered online surveys and interviewer-administered telephone surveys through convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics and regression modelling were employed for data analysis. Of the 138 respondents, most were female (68.1%) and aged 60–69 (23.9%). While 60.3% had emergency plans, motivators included enhancing survival chances (36.7%) and past disaster experiences (22.7%). Barriers included uncertainty about preparation (22.0%) and difficulty obtaining information (11.3%). Those perceiving bushfire risk were more likely to have a plan (<i>p</i> = 0.004), while individuals living alone were less likely (<i>p</i> = 0.019). Common preparedness actions included safely storing important documents (57.5%), but fewer had backup plans for support workers (9.2%) or home generators (9.7%). Respondents with disaster experience highlighted diverse support needs, encompassing health, emotional well-being, and practical assistance. Inclusive disaster risk reduction should involve individuals with disability in assessing their capabilities and support requirements. This study underscores the necessity of tailored emergency preparedness measures to safeguard the well-being of this demographic.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Background: Family caregiver training is an integral part of stroke rehabilitation programmes and is associated with improved caregiver and stroke survivor outcomes. In the Cape Winelands District, a low-resourced rural community-based setting in South Africa, stroke survivors and family caregivers mostly rely on assistance from community health workers (CHWs), despite their lack of stroke-specific rehabilitation training.
Objectives: To evaluate the implementation and immediate effects of a bespoke, 16 session, 21 h stroke rehabilitation training programme for CHWs to better support family caregivers.
Methods: Two cooperative inquiry groups participated in participatory action research to design and develop the programme. This article reports on the implementation of this programme. Inquiry group members directly observed the training, obtained written and verbal feedback, interviewed CHWs and observed them in the community. Consensus on their learning was achieved after reflection on their experience and observations.
Results: Learning of the cooperative inquiry groups was categorised into the effect on community-based care, the training programme’s design and development, how training was delivered and implications for service delivery. Community health workers empowered caregivers and stroke survivors and enabled access to care, continuity, coordination and person-centredness. The need for experiential learning and a spiral curriculum was confirmed. Therapists needed a different set of skills to deliver training. A systems approach and effective leadership were needed to enable community health workers to use their new skills.
Conclusion: The stroke rehabilitation training programme demonstrated potential for integration into service delivery and equipping CHWs to support family caregivers and stroke survivors. Further evaluation of the programme’s effectiveness and scale-up is needed.
Contribution: Evidence of an intervention to train CHWs to support stroke survivors and family caregivers.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Communities. Classes. Races
Disabled students are systematically disadvantaged compared to their non-disabled peers and Disability Services can provide important access to accommodations and support. Such services are not, however, without issues. The present study investigates student experiences with University Disability Services in order to identify shared barriers to inclusion and recommendations for practice. Individual semi-structured online interviews were conducted with twelve female students. Each student discussed their engagement with Disability Services as an undergraduate or postgraduate student, and each student disclosed a long-term, nonvisible condition. A thematic analysis was used to identify three themes. These were (1) Identity and Legitimacy (Identification as Disabled, Perceived Legitimacy, The Importance of Evidence), (2) Knowledge and Understanding (Knowledge of Specific Conditions, Knowledge of Disability Services, Disability Services Staff Knowledge and Understanding, Peer Knowledge and Understanding), and (3) Independence and Support (Desire for Autonomy, The Importance of Self-Advocacy, Additional Support). The findings highlight shared barriers to support experienced by students with different diagnoses who engage with University Disability Services. A range of recommendations are provided to improve Disability Services provision (e.g., universities are advised to review the language used to advertise Disability Services).
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Oluwasola E. Omoju, Emily E. Ikhide, Iyabo A. Olanrele
et al.
Youth unemployment is a major socioeconomic problem in Nigeria, and several youth-employment programs have been initiated and implemented to address the challenge. While detailed analyses of the impacts of some of these programs have been conducted, empirical analysis of implementation challenges and of the influence of limited political inclusivity on distribution of program benefits is rare. Using mixed research methods and primary data collected through focus-group discussion and key-informant interviews, this paper turns to that analysis. We found that, although there are several youth-employment programs in Nigeria, they have not yielded a marked reduction in youth-unemployment rates. The programs are challenged by factors such as lack of framework for proper governance and coordination, inadequate funding, lack of institutional implementation capacity, inadequate oversight of implementation, limited political inclusivity, lack of prioritization of vulnerable and marginalized groups, and focus on stand-alone programs that are not tied to long-term development plans. These issues need to be addressed to ensure that youth-employment programs yield better outcomes and that youth unemployment is significantly reduced.
The organization of a social and labor employment on a permanent basis for people with mental disabilities is the multidimensional and lengthy process that requires elaboration at the state level. The technology of inpatient substitution and a description of new implemented practices for the comprehensive support of adults with mental disabilities in the Pskov region are presented. Provided analysis of results of the work of the resource center for social services and the current system of comprehensive support for the period 2018-2021 in the following areas: vocational training, social and labor employment at work, social day employment, socio-cultural rehabilitation; supported accommodation and post-residential house support. 164 people visit the institution on an ongoing basis, 16 of them are people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Training programs have been written and are being used to acquire working professions. In 2019, an assisted living house was opened and a post-residential house support system was introduced. The existing problems are analyzed, questions for the further development in the field of socialization of people with mental disabilities are proposed.