Description
Although equal opportunities and equal treatment have a legal background, in everyday practice there are many factors hindering the social inclusion of people with disabilities, equal access and participation. Our objective is to help disabled people to become fully independent adults, helping parents letting go of their children, strengthening interconnection between training and social institutions. Our activities will be organisation of a two-term open university course, for parents raising young people with learning difficulties, experts, university students and mentally challenged. We will conduct open university lectures, theme processing and workshops and dissemination of methodological publications. The target group is mentally challenged young people and adults (between 16-45 years of age), their families, relatives, assisting, developing, caring professionals, employees of applying institutions and partner institutions of a similar profile, teachers of the universities, professionals and students that are interested in the project.
Summary of project results
Significant number of people living with disabilities represent themselves among the socially vulnerable groups. Although the legal background exists for equal opportunities and equal treatment, at the same time many factors make social acceptance, inclusion, equal access, participation difficult in the daily practice. Segregation does not decrease, moreover, even increases again due to new social challenges. To address this issue, The Hold My Hand Foundation has organized two semesters of Free University in Pécs, for parents raising mentally disabled youngsters, for professionals working on the field, for the students and the teachers of the University of Arts Pécs, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Humanities Science and for the mentally challenged people themselves. The Open University courses were implemented the way, that it followed the schedule for the courses in the higher education. In the academic year of 2013/2014 they organized all together eight occasions for the fall and the spring semesters: each time processed the current theme of the course syllabus in the frame of a full-day seminars, paralleled in two sections. - Professionals, parents raising mentally disabled youngsters, students - Mentally disabled people with professional’s help, mostly through non-verbal channels using the framework of the workshop.
Summary of bilateral results