Mainly, to demonstrate that people with special educational needs are as valid as others. It is true that the conditions in which the world of work moves, the long working hours, the specification and difficulty of the tasks, the versatility in the job, taking on responsibilities... are sometimes great obstacles for disability. Having more time to perform a task, "learning by doing" during training and in the first days of starting work, specialisation in one or several tasks of their profession and the support of guides or mediators in their contact with work, will generate positive results; the main goal will have been achieved, which is access to work and all that this entails: economic independence, "feeling useful", cognitive and emotional activity, expansion of social relations. That is what we are looking for, to be those mediators for those of our students who can potentially enter the world of work. We just have to be open-minded, not afraid to face new challenges, avoid the comfort of our comfort zone and above all have confidence and a positive and respectful attitude towards the subject we are "teaching".
There were several reasons that led us to request this project. Among them: * To open new doors, new opportunities, educational and work-related, both for our vocational training students and for our teaching staff. * The search for equity, for the effective and real inclusion of students with disabilities "capable" of developing in the world of work. * To open minds, to condition our critical and reflective thinking, enriching our knowledge with the contributions of others: to observe models, to share them, to initiate common experiences. * To get to know the European reality in the intervention of specific educational support needs associated with disability. * To connect with institutions dedicated to vocational training and with companies, whose sensitivity promotes one of the main human rights, the right to work. * To look for experiences of "employability". * To analyse which are the mechanisms, educational and legislative, in favour of the professionalisation of people with disabilities. * To contribute to change the employers' perspective about people with intellectual disabilities. * To know the training offer in France and Portugal for access to work.