Project Partnership for active life of youth with intellectual disabilities – Pal4youth is a project between 2 organizations, which strives for the improvement of care of people with intellectual disabilities and their families: Zveza Sožitje (The Sožitje Association, Slovenia) and SPMP CR (Inclusion Czech Republic). Young people with intellectual disabilities are deprived of realistic information about their rights, their bodies and the opportunities they have. Through this project, we want to improve their possibilities for access to information on sexuality, relationships, and health in accessible information which will contribute to greater independence and enable them to participate in events that concern them and their well-being. Young people with intellectual disabilities are included in every definition of young people with fewer opportunities. The main objectives of the project are to build partnerships between organizations, develop tools for information and education on relationships, sexuality and health care for young people with intellectual disabilities and their parents, as well as the development of a model of youth work with young people with intellectual disabilities through a needs analysis. The duration of the project is 18 months. The project follows the priorities of social inclusion, quality youth work and empowerment. With the support of experts, we want to focus on the needs of young people with intellectual disabilities. The activities of the project will involve young people with intellectual disabilities with support staff, representatives of organizations, professional workers, youth workers and experts for preparing texts and illustrations in easy read language, so texts are accessible and understandable to people with intellectual disabilities and other target groups. Publications can be helpful to all unskilled readers, those with specific learning disabilities, and those who are still learning the language (immigrants). The project includes two groups of people with intellectual disabilities. The first are translators in easy read language. They will exchange experiences in the international environment and explore the attitude of society towards the sexuality of people with intellectual disabilities. The second group of participants is a group of young people with intellectual disabilities who will work together to identify the needs of young people in their local environment. The direct impact on young people with intellectual disabilities involved in the project will be their changed self-image resulting from active participation. All these effects will contribute to a greater sense of independence of young people with intellectual disabilities and encourage them to continue active participation in youth work and activism. Within the project, 5 international project meetings and 2 multiplication events (one in Czech Republic and one in Slovenia) will be held. The specific results of the partnership will be "Booklets for boys and girls", a publication in 7 volumes, written in easy read language, in Slovenian and English, and a publication intended for informing parents of young people with intellectual disabilities and professionals "Growing Up" in Slovenian, Czech and English. The project objectives complement the ongoing activities of both partners and will be a stepping stone for the development of future joint projects. International cooperation has two key objectives: the establishment of a partnership between organizations, which in the future can act as a supportive environment for the development of new international projects, including individual youth mobility projects, and the joint development of information and communication tools for young people and their parents. Through the project, we are addressing issues of inclusion and diversity that benefit young people with fewer opportunities, including those in a wider community that are not directly involved. The project partners have a wide network of services, programs and activities. Zveza Sožitje (The Sožitje Association) has more than 15,000 members and SPMP CR (Inclusion Czech Republic) 8,000, through which the results of the project will be implemented and expanded to the local environment of both countries. Results of the project will reach a large number of young people with intellectual disabilities, their parents and professionals. We will also expand the concept of youth work and work with young people with intellectual disabilities as a specific population with their needs. Collaboration will enable the exchange of knowledge and skills among professional staff from both organizations, strengthening the competencies to support young people with fewer opportunities in the international environment. Through the processes of direct participation, we will strengthen the voice of young people with intellectual disabilities and thus contribute to changes in culture and the development of society.
Project Partnership for active life of youth with intellectual disabilities – Pal4youth is a project between 2 organizations, which strive for the improvement of care of people with intellectual disabilities and their families: Zveza Sožitje from Slovenia and Inclusion Czech Republic. Young people with intellectual disabilities are deprived of realistic information about their rights, their bodies and the opportunities they have. Young people with intellectual disabilities are included in every definition of young people with fewer opportunities. This is a specific group that is even more vulnerable than others, as their dependence on the interpretation of information by the environment is much higher than that of other people with disabilities. The main objectives of the project are to build partnerships between organizations, develop tools for information and education on relationships, sexuality and health care for young people with intellectual disabilities and their parents, as well as the development of a model of youth work with young people with intellectual disabilities through a needs analysis. In the project we developed innovative tools for educating and informing young people. Booklets for girls and boys are written in an easy-to-read and understandable language, published in Slovene and English. The titles of 7 individual booklets are: Being a Woman, Being a Man, Love, Sex and Me, A Visit to the Gynaecologist, Pregnancy, Childbirth, Sexual Violence. In total, they have more than 300 pages of easy-to-read text, along with illustrations, which are one of the key sources of information in easy-to-read texts. The easy-to-read format means that the texts are understandable and thus accessible to people with intellectual disabilities and other target groups. Publications can help less skilled readers, those with specific learning disabilities, as well as those who are just beginning to learn the language (immigrants). Another developed tool in the project is publication: Growing up, A booklet for parents of young people with intellectual disabilities about relationships, sexuality and support in growing up. It was published in Slovene, Czech and English. These are all innovative contents that offer answers to questions about how to support young people with intellectual disabilities as they grow up. All booklets can offer support to youth workers and professionals who work with young people with intellectual disabilities. With the PAL4youth project, we have improved the opportunities for young people to access real information on sexuality, relationships, sex life and health, in an easy-to-read language, which has contributed to their greater well-being, independence and easier participation in events related to them and so increasing their independence. Youth workers and others who work with young people with intellectual disabilities often didn’t have a model on how to deal with these topics with young people. In disseminating the results of the project, we focused on various groups of professionals, from the field of youth work, social welfare, education and health. The project promotes quality youth work, and has developed new concepts in partnership between two organizations. We have systematically introduced elements of youth work in both organizations and, with the support of experts, focused on starting to collect needs among young people with intellectual disabilities. The project focuses on empowering young people with fewer opportunities. The focus of the project is human dignity and equality. Easy-to-read information about growing up are one of the foundations for independent living and active participation in society. Through structured research of needs of young people with intellectual disabilities we have developed new youth work methods in both organizations. Only young people who are informed about their own rights and opportunities and understand the consequences of their choices can actively participate in society. The project partners have a wide network of services, programs and activities. Zveza Sožitje from Slovenia has more than 15,000 members, and Inclusion Czech Republic 8,000, through which the results of the project were implemented and expanded to the local environment of both countries. Results of the project had reached a large number of young people with intellectual disabilities, their parents, and professionals. We had expanded the concept of youth work and work with young people with intellectual disabilities as a specific population with their needs. Collaboration has enable the exchange of knowledge and skills among professional staff from both organizations, strengthening the competencies to support young people with fewer opportunities in the international environment. Through the processes of direct participation, we have strengthen the voice of young people with intellectual disabilities and thus contribute to changes in culture and society.