While some services referring to formal education for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are well established and financed from education and medical sector, some services like non-formal lifelong learning require further development. There is a constant need of creating better and more complex services/lifelong learning programms especially for adults with intellectual disabilities. Despite the fact that persons with ID need more support to gain new and maintain acquired skills they are often deprived of educational opportunities after reaching adulthood.The project idea arises from daily experience of professionals working with adults with ID. The main issue that those professionals confront in their everyday work is “how to effectively support adults with intellectual disabilities on their way to independent life and autonomy?” Main issues that professionals (adult educators) identify are: 1) cooperation with parents in order to support independence of their adult children; 2) supporting people with ID in the process of mourning after death of parents; 3) implementing supported employment; 4) establishing supported living (deinstitutionalization process, living in local communities); 5) supporting parenthood of people with ID; 6) learning to organize their free time (establish a social network). Professionals working in facilities for people with disabilities are overcharged with responsibilities and often deprived of professional contacts and networking process. Main issues identified in adult education for professionals working with people with ID are lack of networking facilitation, lack of training (no non formal education after graduation from university), lack of external support (supervision, team building).The main objective of the project is to exchange good practices in above mentioned 6 topics and create a review of effective methods to provide know-how for professionals (adult educators) working with adults with intellectual disabilities. This will enable adult educators to provide adequate and complex support for their clients. Knowledge on efficient methods of supporting the autonomy of people with ID will be collected during project activities (national partner activities and transnational meetings). Review of good practices will be presented on projects’ website along with the recommendations for further development. Partners are aware of the importance of ensuring that persons with intellectual disabilities can speak for themselves. Therefore people with intellectual disabilities will play an active role in creation of partners’ presentations of target subjects. They will be invited to transnational partner meetings and share their life experience in accordance to the motto “Nothing about us without us!”Project participants, persons with ID as well as social workers, other professionals involved in the project will have the possibility to improve and recapitulate their knowledge about effective methods of strengthening the autonomy of persons with ID. The expected impact on the target group of people with intellectual disabilities will result in strengthening their skills and experience, increasing independence and improving their basic skills. An offer of high quality learning opportunities, tailored to individual needs will be improved and extended thanks to project activities. We also expect as a manifestation of project outputs strengthened interest in working in an unprotected environment and life outside the family in local communities.Project activities, managed by each partner, involving different actors in social sector, will have the aim – and multiplication effect – of filling a knowledge gap on the specific theme of autonomy of adult persons with intellectual disabilities in all life fields. The potential long term impact of the project will be a creation of a network of organizations and adult educators’ interested in developing of new, innovative methods for strengthening the autonomy of persons with intellectual disabilities.
While some services referring to formal education for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are well established and financed from education and medical sector, some services like non-formal lifelong learning require further development. There is a constant need of creating better and more complex services/lifelong learning programs especially for adults with ID. Despite the fact that persons with ID need more support to gain new and maintain acquired skills they are often deprived of educational opportunities after reaching adulthood. The project was created as a response to daily experience of professionals working with adults with intellectual disabilities in 4 partner countries (Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic). The Polish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability (PSONI) works for the benefit and on the behalf of persons with ID living in Poland, their parents and legal guardians. The mission of Rytmus from Czech Republic is to make it possible for people with ID to pursue active involvement in the mainstream environment – in employment, at school and in the place where they live. The areas of intervention of the IL CERCHIO Cooperative from Ravenna, Italy are: Minor and Childhood, Disability, Elderly. The Cooperative is proactively organized in terms of service design, offering innovative services in order to bring benefits to the whole community through the improvement of the quality of life of users and their families. The Association for Help to People with Intellectual Disabilities in Slovak Republic (ZPMP v SR) main objective is general support of activities and measures aimed in favor of children, youth and adult people with intellectual disabilities. The main issue that partners confront in their everyday work is “how to effectively support adults with intellectual disabilities on their way to independent life and autonomy?” Main issues chosen in the project were: 1) Supported employment 2) Supported living arrangements 3) Cooperation with parents of people with intellectual disability 4) Support in the process of mourning after parents death 5) Parenthood of people with intellectual disability 6) Leisure time activities, social network The main objective of the project was to exchange good practices in above mentioned 6 topics and create a review of effective methods to provide know-how for adult educators working with adults with intellectual disabilities. This exchange of good practice enabled adult educators to provide more adequate and complex support for their clients. Knowledge on efficient methods of supporting the autonomy of people with ID was collected during project activities (national partner activities and 5 transnational meetings). Review of good practices is presented on projects’ website along with the recommendations for further development (www.respid.eu). Professionals working in facilities for people with disabilities are overcharged with responsibilities and often deprived of professional contacts and networking process. Main issues identified in adult education for professionals working with people with ID are lack of networking facilitation, lack of training, lack of external support. The project had the objective to create professional contacts and network between adult educators from different countries. Partners guaranteed that persons with intellectual disabilities could speak for themselves during project activities. Participants with ID played active role in creation of partners’ presentations of target subjects. They were invited to transnational partner meetings and shared their life experience in accordance to the motto “Nothing about us without us!” Some of their experiences are presented in the form of short videos. As a result of project activities adult educators, persons with ID as well as social workers, other professionals involved in the project improved and recapitulated their knowledge about effective methods of strengthening the autonomy of persons with ID. The impact on the target group of people with ID, especially those taking active part in project activities (participants of meetings, video creators), strengthened their and self-esteem, which in effect lead to increased independence and motivation to improve their basic skills. An offer of high quality learning opportunities, tailored to individual needs was improved and extended thanks to project activities. Project activities, managed by each partner, involving different actors in social sector, had the goal of filling a knowledge gap on the specific theme of autonomy of adult persons with intellectual disabilities in all life fields. The long term impact of the project is a creation of a network of professionals interested in developing of new, innovative methods for strengthening the autonomy of adults with ID.