The Association of People with Disabilities “Bubamara” is a non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with physical and mental disabilities and their families. Bubamara works to promote the inclusion of the persons with disabilities in the field of education, health, social care and employment, self- participation, raising public awareness for the rights of people with disabilities, lobbying for changing the legislation and its implementation. Bubamara has been founded in 1984 by two persons with physical disabilities and parents of a persons with mental disabilities. The organization actually works in the area covering the city of Vinkovci, Vukovar, Županja, Ilok and Otok as well as the surrounding villages from Eastern Croatia and is divided in four sections dedicated to: intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy. Each section has it’s own coordinator that together with other four members made the board of directors of the organization. The name of the organization highlights part of his history. Bubamara in fact means “ladybird”: the logo of the national lottery that was the main founders of the organization at the time of its foundation. Since 2009 the organization was mainly financed with donations of the national lottery and the Ministry of the Social Policy. After the entering of Croatia in the European Union a process of internationalization started and the organization become applicant of several agencies incrementing the number and type of services offered to its members. Many projects of the organization started with the founding of European Programs and ten continue with the committing of the Ministry of Social Policy.
In particular Bubamara runs a day centre in Vinkovci founded by the Ministry of Social Policy. The centre organize mainly creative laboratories and socialization activities such as karaoke. Another project run by Bubamara is a personal assistance service for persons with physical disabilities addressed to 60 persons and an assistance service for persons with physical and intellectual disabilities at school employing 111 assistants. The personal assistance service provide not only practical help for persons with disabilities but is addressed also to develop the quality of the social life and make attention to organize opportunity of socialization for the assisted persons. At school instead the assistance service is not related to teaching tasks but to integrate the persons with disability in the school and in the classrooms.
Furthermore the organization runs a mobile team service to assist people with disabilities living in isolated rural areas as the majority of the villages of the region. Each person can be assisted for whatever could be their problems and the mobile teams make a round in each village once a week. As an example the mobile teams, made by different professionals, provides help to hygienic and medical assistance, administrative assistance, paying the bills or shovel the snow in the winter if it's necessary. Other projects implemented in the last year have been a greenhouse project engaging persons with disabilities in growing up plants, English and informatics courses for persons with disabilities, sports project and socialization trips. Finally each year Bubamara organize a concert for raise money for its activities of the association that represents a important annual event for the whole town of Vinkovci.
Business Card - BUBAMARA
The coordinating organization, Associazione di Promozione Sociale Gap, was founded in 2012 by a group of psychologists. Main aim of the organization is the implementation of innovative projects and services for development of the quality of family of the social groups at risk of exclusions. . GAP work between the territory of the VII Municipality of the city of Rome and the rural area of the Roman Castle close to it.
GAP is still a small association, which is growing and working to transform its projects in stable services. The association has a management team made by 3 persons that plays a coordinating role of the implemented projects. Gap runs different psychosocial projects and services addressed to the persons with disabilities and their family members such as action research activities, personal assistance services for persons with intellectual disabilities and consultancy services. Furthermore GAP provides organizational consultancy services for social and sanitary agencies providing services in the field of disability. GAP projects and services are realized in partnership with a network of third parties at local and European level. The collaboration with other stakeholders is very important as, within the well established welfare system of the country, GAP usually works for implement services supporting the ones already existing.
In addition to the YAID project, GAP is currently implementing 3 projects. The first project called “advice for navigation” is an organizational consultancy project developed on the commitment of the "Service for the Adult Disability” of one of the Local Sanitary Agency of Rome. Aim of the project is to train the staff of this service (nurses, social workers and educators) to develop psychosocial competences to analyse and treat the demands of their clients: mainly parents of adults and young adults with disabilities. The second project is a social agricultural project called “Made In Pizzuto”. The project started in 2012 with the direct commitment of 3 families and is now financed by the social department of the Lazio Region. The main goal of the project is to involve a group of family members together with their sons or daughters with intellectual disabilities in developing a common social enterprise. The role of the GAP psychologists in the project is to build a working group and to facilitate the interaction between the participants. The third project is an action research project called “Enea Network” and founded by the Social Department of the Lazio Region. The project is aimed to exploring and understanding the main problems related to the care and the assistance of the elders. Another aim of the project is to build a case management service based on the collaboration between the various stakeholders involved in the care and the assistance of the elders such as psychologists, doctors, social workers, guardians, family members.
The problem of a lack of coordination and case management between different services is in fact a crucial problem in Italy.
Business Card - GAP
ENABLE - SCOTLAND
The partner organization ENABLE Scotland was founded in Glasgow by a group of 5 parents in a meeting in Glasgow Corporation’s Education Offices on 9 April 1954. Main aim of the organization is to help parents to get better services for their children who had learning disabilities.
Nowadays ENABLE Scotland is the largest organization in Scotland of and for children and adults who have learning disabilities and their families with a network of around 4000 members in 47 local branches as well as 500 national members throughout Scotland. ENABLE Scotland is also an important care service providers in Scotland employing more than in 1000 persons for the implementation of services for persons with mental disabilities and their parents. Since its foundations Enable has organized day centres, hostels, day centres for educations and training of persons with disabilities, residential homes, small size family home for whom moving out from the closing mental hospitals and short break family support services.
ENABLE WorkS, the department of ENABLE Scotland involved in the YAID project, organizes services for transition to work and employment of persons with intellectual disabilities employing 100 staff. The staff is divided in five working team organized on geographical basis with local coordinators coordinated by a manager at central level. The working team implementing the youth project instead manages projects and services in the whole country.
ENABLE Works runs youth services, transitions services, government programmes, supported employment services and social enterprises. The youth services manage youth groups that support young people who have learning disabilities to engage in social activity with people their own age, to develop social skills, take part in community and become self advocates on issues that matter for them. Transitions services deliver embedded employment services in over 70 schools and 17 colleges across Scotland – supporting young people with learning disabilities to make the transition into employment after school and college. Through the British Government’s Work Choice programme for adults who have a learning disability and the Scottish Government’s Employability Fund, ENABLE Works runs services to support people aged 16-24 into employment. In particular the supported employment service provides employability services to adults who have learning disabilities in partnership with social work services in Glasgow, Inverclyde, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Additionally within the Re-Connect programme, ENABLE Works runs service to support ex-Remploy workers who have a range of disabilities back into employment.
Finally ENABLE Works manages two Social enterprises: Darling’s Coffee Shop in Arbroath and Hazeldene Horticulture in Kilwinning where persons with disabilities are trained to develop employability skills in a real working environment before supporting their transition into further employment.
Business Card - ENABLE
VILTIS - LITHUANIA
The partner organization Viltis Welfare Society for persons with disabilities was founded in 1989 in Vilnius, Lithuania, on initiative of doctor Ddainius Puras and a group of parents of persons with disabilities who gathered together with mental health specialists. Since its foundation Viltis worked to build effective services for the persons with disabilities and their parents. Since 2004 “Viltis” is an association, that consists of 53 branches of Lithuanian welfare society for persons with mental disability located all over Lithuania. The main aim of the organization is to unite the families who have children with mental disability and psychiatric problems and to set addressing issues related to care, education, employment, recreation and sport.
Nowadays Viltis associated members run different services for persons with disabilities and their families such as day care centres, family support centres, special transport services, parents support groups, summer camps for persons with disabilities and their parents. In 1990 society “Viltis” started developing services for the education of persons with disabilities, participating in setting up of training centres, special schools and classrooms for children with disabilities. A few years later, following renovated laws and guidelines, Viltis started to set up school services also in mainstream group or class, following the mainstream curriculum, but with special methods applied or following a modified mainstream curriculum or an alternative curriculum or individual education plan.
Their goal is to ensure successful implementation of the UN Conventionon the rights of Persons with Disabilities, contributing to protection and monitoring of people with intellectual disabilities and their families, to initiate development of complex assistance mechanism in all regions of the country, to be involved in policy formulation and decision-making processes. Society “Viltis” cooperates with the public and government institutions, local municipalities, foreign partners, other organizations working in this field and private persons on long-term legislative program seeking to create a new concept of disability based on principles of human rights and self-advocacy. Viltis together with the ministry of Social Affairs is member of the working group monitoring the implementation of the closing of the mental institutions in Lithuania. Viltis organizes seminars, training courses for professionals, parents and volunteers working with disabled persons and edits the Magazine "Viltis”.
Society “Viltis” is a member of inclusion Europe and Inclusion International; since 2013 it is a member of Lithuanian Disability Forum, a member of NGO coalition “For the Rights of Children”, “Mental Health 2030” Coalition, member of the Council on Disability affairs at the Ministry of social security and labour of the Republic of Lithuania. The society “Viltis” is deeply involved in the de-institutionalization process going on in Lithuania and in the neighbouring Eastern European countries, Belaruse, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan.
The actual goal of the organization is the setting up of respite services for families raising and caring persons with mental disability, personal assistance services and employment services for persons with mental disabilities.
