From Exceptionality to Exceptional: Inclusion of Differently Abled Persons in the Workplace

ROBERTO E. JAVIER, JR., FEORILLO PETRONILO A. DEMETERIO III, RAYMUND B. HABARADAS, MELVIN A. JABAR, AND RON R. RESURRECCION are from the faculty roster of De La Salle University, Manila (DLSU). They are the members of the research team commissioned by Unilab (United Laboratories) Foundation that conducted the study “From the Margins to the Mainstream: Transforming the Lives of Workers With Exceptionality, Their Coworkers, Business, Corporate Practices, Policies and the Workplace.” The research team drew lessons and insights from their findings in the study as well as from their reflections in doing the exercise and came up with this book: “Inclusion of Persons With Intellectual Disability: The Philippine Experience.”

RON RESURRECCION, a registered psychologist, is an Associate Professor and Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Psychology; MELVIN A. JABAR is an Associate Professor in the Behavioral Sciences Department; RAYMUND B. HABARADAS is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Center for Business Research and Development of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business (RVR COB);and FEORILLO PETRONILO A. DEMETERIO III is a Full Professor and Director of the University Research Coordination Office (URCO); and ROBERTO E. JAVIER, JR., a registered psychologist, is a Full Professor and the director of the research and book projects for Unilab Foundation under the auspices of the DLSU Social Development Research Center (SDRC) and the DLSU Publishing House (DLSUPH).

Klarizze Y. Valdoria, Katrina C. Fernando-Resurreccion, Chester Howard M. Lee, Mark Anthony M. Velasco, and Crisanto Q. Regadio, Jr., are research associates of the DLSU SDRC. They assisted the study team in the conduct of field work and the FGDs. They also individually contributed in the write-up of the research reports as well as papers from their independent studies. Marika E. Melgar and coauthor Karina Therese Fernandez are from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU). Karina Therese Fernandez is the executive director of the Fr. Jaime Bulatao Psychological Services Center of ADMU. Marika Melgar was invited to the writeshop for the book project with Unilab Foundation to share the stories that she generated from her study on adults with autism.