- Fundación Iberdrola España and the Down Asturias Association have been collaborating since 2018 to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities
- The €40,000 funding from Fundación Iberdrola España will help the training and labor integration of 120 people in Asturias
The main objective of the Down Asturias Association‘s project is to help 120 people with Down Syndrome and intellectual disabilities to be included in the ordinary labor market. Seeking to adapt to the needs of each person, two general lines of action are established: pre-labor practice and supported employment.
In training practices and pre-employment orientation, the aim is for the beneficiary to have a first approach to the world of work. In this way, the beneficiary is trained for the exercise of a profession and puts into practice the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired. During these internships, a job coach will help and train the person in the functions to be performed.
In employment with support, a person-centered methodology is applied, which includes a set of services and individualized actions so that the disabled person can access, maintain, and promote himself/herself in an ordinary company, with the support of professionals directly linked to labor insertion. The necessary support is provided, both inside and outside the workplace, so that integration is real and satisfactory for both the worker and the company.
The contents of the workshops are developed for those participants who are not yet ready to take up a job:
- Job training: theoretical and practical knowledge of the profession.
- Compensatory education: reinforcement of comprehension, reading, writing, and calculation processes.
- Social skills.
- Mobility and social interaction with the environment.
As a result of this project, and through the contacts that the Association has established with various companies and institutions, it is expected that at least 4 people will get a supported employment contract and that at least 20 people will develop work practices. In addition, pre-employment workshops will be held during the 12 months of the year.
Visit to the Down Asturias Association
During the visit, it was possible to know firsthand the success of Llara and her boss, in their labor integration in the College of Pharmacists of Asturias. There has also been a meeting with some of the members in their regular classes of compensatory education in the training and pre-employment orientation workshop at the headquarters of the Association.
