Summary of MINCE The UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities demands the right of being included in the community in Article 19. “States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community” The reality for people with severe intellectual disability does not meet these criteria. Integration and inclusion has been implemented in various steps for people with handicaps or learning disabilities. Yet people with severe intellectual disabilities (Psid) are 30 years after the beginning of integration –movement still not visible in our society. Thus all countries are in charge to develop supporting systems to foster the social inclusion and to promote systems that the inclusion and participation of Psid can be ensured. Aim of the project is to foster inclusion of people with severe intellectual disability emphasizing the learning process of the society in developing the Model of Inclusive Community Education. This aim will be achieved by raising awareness of the society to meet the needs of Psid on the one hand, on the other by promoting community education as a tool to reduce social barriers and discrimination. Aims and Objectives • Raising awareness of the society to meet the needs of MmsiB , as well as the removal of social barriers and discrimination • Collaboration with Peer- mediators in the matters of inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities • Expert training for Peer-mediators for Advocacy and Inclusion • Development of professional skills for disability carers working with People with Disabilities in the community • Rethinking the role of organisations in the disability field – Facilitating processes within society • Support for the Implementation of Inclusive Community Education Outcomes: • MINCE Curriculum for Peer-Mediators: peer mediators learn to represent the interests of people with severe intellectual disabilities in the process of inclusion. • MINCE Easy to Read Guide (Toolkit for Peer-Mediators) • Mince Curriculum for Disability carers • MINCE Guidelines for organizations in the disability field • Mince Compendium • MINCE Movie Consortium The partnership consists of 7 organisations from 7 countries representing a good balance of EU regions and also fields of activities. Five partners work in the field of disability services and two partners in the field of adult education. All partners are facing similar challenges in terms of collective consciousness concerning inclusion of people with intellectual disability. The partnership was carefully composed to assure that all necessary skills exist in the partnership to, to develop, transfer, and implement the MINCE intellectual outputs for the use of all beneficiaries and target groups. Target Groups • People with severe intellectual disability • People with intellectual disabilities or learning disfficulties • Disability Caregivers • Organisations in the disability field • Organisations and NGOs in the social field Activities Due to the approach of participation in the MINCE project six partner counties will build up focus groups of people with intellectual disabilities and disability carers who will contribute their know how into the project and test the draft versions of the curricula. In the partner meetings there will be a steadily reflection concerning the results and development of the outcomes. The guidelines for organizations in the disability field will be developed in a close cooperation with the management boards of the organisations and due to the various situations in the partner countries. All outcomes will be produced in a range of languages and will be published on the project website and disseminated through an international exploitation seminar. Impact • Inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities • Empowerment of people with intellectual disability to play an active role in the community • Enabling the communities to learn together with people with intellectual disability • Facilitating the process of Inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities into communities • Enhancing the sensibility of communities for the needs of people with severe intellectual disabilities • Building up an Inclusive Community in order to facilitate the de-institutionalization of people with intellectual disabilities
The UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities demands the right of being included in the community. Thus all countries are in charge to develop supporting systems to foster the social inclusion and to promote systems that the inclusion and participation of them can be ensured. The main and long-term aim of the project MINCE was to attain the social inclusion and participation of people with severe intellectual disabilities in the community. The partnership developed a variety of methods and education programs which, taken as a whole, represent the Model for Inclusive Community Education. The model provides multi-level methods and tools to promote social inclusion. It consists of six Intellectual Outputs: • MINCE Curriculum for Peer-Mediators including easy-to-read version: This curriculum is a training program in the course of which people with learning difficulties or minor intellectual disabilities get empowered to act as mediators between people with severe intellectual disabilities and society. • MINCE Guideline for Peer-Mediators in easy-to-read (STEP UP Guide) (brochure and audiobook): The so called STEP UP Guide for Peer-Mediators offers peer-mediators support representing the interests of people with severe intellectual disabilities. It can be used by people with intellectual disabilities while participating in the training for peer-mediators (developed in the IO1) as a training handbook and a learning diary and also when acting in their new role as peer-mediators as it provides tools and support for this new task. • MINCE Curriculum for disability care workers: This is a supplementary curriculum created for professional assistants and care workers. It deals with the every-day challenges of the professional staff in disability care organisations with regard to the social inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities. There was developed on the one hand a curriculum which identifies the core competencies and the areas that should be addressed during the training. On the other hand and additionally there was developed a more detailed version that provides additional material and knowledge. • MINCE Guidelines for disability care institutions: These guidelines are developed to help organisations in the disability field to gear the contents of their existing services towards the social inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities. Additionally they contain action strategies and good practises for disability care organisations to expand their mission to include the idea of Community education. • Mince Compendium: The MINCE Compendium is a systematic instruction guideline that serves as a basis for the practical implementation of inclusive community education which also provides the theoretical background of the MINCE project (aims and effects of social inclusion, community education, models of disabilities, deeper description of the developed material and its use). • MINCE Movie: This film brings the subject of social inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities closer to a broader audience. It shows three situations (work, visit in a café and leisure time – disco) like they are nowadays and points then out solutions for the future. To keep it barrier-free the film comes without spoken language. The objectives MINCE was pursuing were: • Raising awareness of the society to meet the needs of people with severe intellectual disabilities • Collaboration with Peer- Mediators in the matters of inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities • Expert training for Peer-Mediators for Advocacy and Inclusion • Development of professional skills for disability carers working with people with severe intellectual disabilities in the community • Rethinking the role of organisations in the disability field – Facilitating processes within society • Support for the Implementation of Inclusive Community Education The MINCE project initiated developments which impacts and long-term benefits turn out on the following themes: • Empowerment of people with intellectual disability to play an active role in the community • Enabling communities to learn together with people with severe intellectual disabilities • Facilitating the process of inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities into communities • Enhancing the sensibility of communities and its members for the needs of people with severe intellectual disabilities • Building up an inclusive community in order to facilitate the de-institutionalisation processes of people with severe intellectual disabilities.--