ABSTRACT
The government’s target to receive 36 million tourist s by 2020 requires about 497,000 manpower in the tourism sector. Of that number, 65% of the workforce are required to be certified. The Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, introduced the Polytechnic Special Skills Certificate program in event organization in 2002. This descriptive study examines the marketability of hearing-impaired graduates in the hospitality industry in Malaysia by studying the impact of special skills education on the careers of hearing impaired in event organization, level their interests, and study the barriers that limit these graduates’ opportunities to work in the event organization. Article 23 (1) of the Universal 202Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 explains that the right to work is a human right. According to the “World Health Survey 2010,” of the 28 million total population, estimated at 10% or 2.8 million people are disabled and the Malaysian government has allocated 5.8% opportunities for persons with disabilities to each sector employment including event organizations . However, < 2% of the quota was met. Therefore, this chapter identifies issues and challenges that disabled people facein getting opportunities in event organizations even if they were from their own vocational special education. Art activities were given to 26 students with disabilities at Pusat Latihan Perindustrian Dan Pemulihan PLPP , Bangi, which has special drawing classes for students between the ages 19 and 31 . This chapter reviews a number of issues and challenges faced by the disabled youths and conclude that the need is to be more focused for further improvement of youths with disabilities. These findings are also supported by the findings from the interviews conducted. Overall, although special skills education helps graduates improve their skills and knowledge as well as having an interest in working in the industry, the obstacles and constraints that exist cause not all graduates have the opportunity to work in the event organizations. Employers in the event organizations are expected to change their perceptions for this group because they are qualified and are able to work in the event organizations if opportunity is provided.
