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Description
According to information from the Polish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability, the voices of most people with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, go unheard. They do not have control over their own lives, are not given enough respect, and are undervalued. Families and carers, and custodians, do not give them freedom to make decisions, do not recognize their right to make mistakes, and do not provide support in taking greater control over their own lives. We also examined the needs of potential participants in the project in the form of questionnaires and interviews. The most important needs mentioned were a need to feel wanted, the ability to organize their time themselves, gaining experience, including professional experience, overcoming shyness, increasing their self-confidence, and being more open. The main aim of the project is to develop integration voluntary work as a form of community activity of people with disabilities, and activate them professionally. We will train assistants and volunteers with disabilities, and organize internships for volunteers and a volunteer work integration fair. We will give them the opportunity to take part in special events and coach them in advocacy activities. The participants in the project will form a network and will invite other people interested in voluntary activities to join the network. We will launch a website for the project, which will be a voluntary work platform. We will open a voluntary work integration center on a local scale, and this will be run jointly by people with disabilities. People with disabilities will learn new skills and abilities, and through voluntary work they will become involved in local community life. 45 people will receive training in self-advocacy, and a voluntary work integration network will be set up. The direct beneficiaries of the project will be 30 people with disabilities as volunteers and their 15 assistants.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the problem of exclusion of people with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, from rural areas and small towns in Jasło district and neighbouring districts. There is a lack of long-term, comprehensive measures to activate people with intellectual disabilities in the south of Subcarpathian region. At the same time, their voice is often not heard and taken into account, their agency is limited, and they are often not free to make decisions about everyday matters. Most graduates of special schools stay at home, without work or activation activities, often isolated from their social environment.As part of the project, a local inclusive volunteer point was set up to be co-managed by people with disabilities. Assistants (therapists, educators, parents) and people with intellectual disabilities (participants and attendees of occupational therapy from various institutions) took part in training courses on inclusive volunteering. A total of 68 people participated in the courses. Subsequently, the people with disabilities completed internships in the community or carried out advocacy activities in the form of artistic manifestations, including organising a literary meeting, making a film about their institution, and volunteering at a hippotherapy centre. At the end of the project, the partner institutions involved in the project set up an inclusive volunteering network - a place for information, announcements, a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas on inclusive volunteering. A fair with local offers of inclusive volunteering was also organised.Through participation in the project, people with intellectual disabilities have regained agency, strengthened their social and digital competences. Their self-confidence as well as their activity and involvement in the local activities increased and they consequently became more visible in their local communities. At the same time, the assistants learned to support the independence and social involvement of people with intellectual disabilities. The project has also resulted in the promotion of inclusive volunteering as a form of social and vocational activation for people with disabilities.
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