POSSIBILITIES OF PARTICIPATION OF MILD MENTALLY RETARDED ADULTS IN THE LABOR MARKED RELATIONSHIPS Pieaugušo ar vidēji smagiem garīgās attīstības traucējumiem iesaistīšanās iespējas darba tirgus attiecībās

Problem of long life learning talking about educational and integration processes of mild mentally retarded adults in present economical situation face with new and unsolved problems. Changing labor market appreciates creativity and innovations and employers look for employees who can easily deal with difficult situations. It concerns certain mild mentally retarded adults, who have great problems in finding and then keeping their post. The aim of this research is to identify and define main characteristics and possibilities of long life education of mild mentally retarded adults and role of educator in these long term process. The problem of mild mentally retarded adults, who belong to the group of socially disadvantaged people, becomes more and more universal and hard to be solved. Such persons require special interest and help if they are to be successful in discovering and succeeding in their in education. Concept of "long life learning" mostly directed for non-disabled adults, and it's a problem when we are talking about adults which requires everyday care and additional resources of educational activities. Today's reality, full of changes and uncertainty, provides us even more challenges. The labor market appreciates creativity and innovations. This requires developing certain special abilities such as making decisions, creative thinking, and dealing with stress and openness with a risk. Because of this, the risk of social disadvantage rises. Mild mentally retarded adults being in the situation of social disadvantaged cannot deal in an adequate way with their duties (Baranauskienė, 2002, 2007; Baranauskienė, Juodraitis, 2008; Kucinskas, Kucinskienė, 2000). This causes further social problems and threats e.g. unemployment, criminality, frustrations, psychological diseases etc. So, we face with situation of strong need to educate them in a direction of creativity, innovation, and a spirit of enterprise. This concerns mild mental retarded adults, who have great problems in finding and then keeping their post. The situation of social disadvantage adults and their possibility to take part in long life learning activities and participation in labor market actively depends on educators, societal attitudes to the work abilities of mentally disabled adults.