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Description
In Nidzica, there are still obstacles preventing people with disabilities from fully participating in community life and making use of some public services. These persons are not sufficiently skilled in using interpersonal communication technology. In a pandemic, this hinders or prevents them remaining in contact with each other and promoting activities in the local community. The objective of the project is to make people with intellectual disabilities more active in measures for respect of their human rights. We will create a Self-Advocacy Group (six people with disabilities, three Polish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability (PSONI) employees), which will create Self-advocacy Training and Self-advocate Support schemes. We will conduct a course (workshops on human rights, communication, self-presentation, IT technology, and community work skills) for two groups of people with disabilities and two training sessions for people in the immediate self-advocate community (working with people with disabilities, easy communication with people with disabilities), supporting self-advocacy. We will provide legal consultations for participants. We are also planning two events for integration with the local community and two events on the obstacles related to disability. People with disabilities will improve their knowledge and skills and learn new skills necessary for self-advocacy. They will also learn to use digital communication tools, which is vital for counteracting exclusion in the COVID-19 pandemic. Twelve people with intellectual or motor disabilities will learn self-advocacy kills, and fourteen people working with them on a daily basis will learn methods to facilitate cooperation. Eighteen people from the local community will participate in the integration events.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the problem of exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in Nidzica. There are still barriers in the town that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in social life and using some public services. One example is the building of the Labour Office, where the main entrance is an architectural barrier and there is no lift. In May 2020, the first informal group of self-advocates - people with different disabilities - was formed in the city. This group was determined to address the problem of architectural barriers in the city on a systemic level. Unfortunately, there is a lack of organisations or institutions in Nidzica that would support the self-advocacy work of people with disabilities.
The project established a 14-member self-advocacy team, which developed support and training programmes and a plan for non-project meetings. The self-advocacy course included 24 workshops for two groups each. The workshops covered topics such as communication and self-presentation, IT techniques, social skills and the rights of people with disabilities. People with disabilities benefited from legal advice. Two training sessions were also organised for professionals, carers and people close to people with intellectual disabilities. The trainings focused on cooperation and communication. The self-advocacy group organised two events on community integration and two events on the problems they face in the city. One event involved sending letters to the local authorities diagnosing the difficulties faced by people with disabilities in Nidzica, and the other was a debate on the accessibility of the city''s cultural space for people with disabilities.
The project has primarily benefited people with disabilities in Nidzica. Their awareness of their rights has undoubtedly increased, as have their self-advocacy skills, social activism and agency. There has also been a local debate on architectural barriers in the city. The local authorities have recognised the need for a self-advocacy movement and are interested in setting up a district self-advocacy council.