Employment Law and the Mentally Handicapped

Mental handicaps affect a suprisingly large part of the community. If the handicapped cannot make themselves self-sufficient, they become a great economic burden whereas they may have the potential of being contributors to society. This paper will examine aspects of the law relating to employment opportunity and certain social service structures, and question the extent to which they further a handicapped person's goal of fulfilling his employment potential. Field research was done only in the Halifax area, but the analysis is pertinent across Canada because the statutory provisions, social services and social assistance structures found in Halifax are on the whole similar to those found across Canada.