The project ‚My career matters!’ (MCM) targets career guidance sector with the purpose to empowering people with intellectual disabilities (PwID) to become more involved in shaping their learning, training and labour market integration pathways and their careers. The primary target group is PwID who will receive accessible and available tools in order to make informed choices regarding their careers. In too many cases decision about jobs or careers are made for them instead of by them. The second target group is the guidance sector from schools, VET and employment providers who will receive increased knowledge and information about the needs of PwID, and also resources which will lead to more effective guidance strategies, as a key role to promoting social inclusion. The project aims to increase participation of PwID to lifelong learning programs and employment, by making the resources regarding labour market information and training courses in career information more accessible and available. MCM project is fully in line with and supports Erasmus+ Programme as it addresses the field of adult education priority: increasing learning demand and take-up through effective outreach, guidance and motivation strategies which support the upskilling pathways by encouraging and supporting low-skilled and/or low-qualified adults, through developing guidance-as-a-service to ensure that adults have access to relevant learning throughout their life. The project objectives are: • Developing career management skills of PwID through improving their access to accessible and available resources in career development and learning opportunities; • Improving teaching methods and tools in career information for staff from educational, VET and employment systems, in order to better respond to the needs and expectations of PwID. The Guide ‚My Career Maters!’ will improve the availability of LMI to PwID and will address the challenges this group is facing in accessing LMI. The guide will be a tool for PwID to support them in the process of identification of labour market opportunities, as well as in the career guidance process. Improving access to LMI will encourage and empower PwID to look for career opportunities that align with their skills and interests. The Guide will be elaborated in an easy to read and understand format. The Training package ’Career information’ will develop career management skills of PwID, skills which should be maintained throughout life and are based on key competences, in particular ‚learning to learn’, social and civic competences - including intercultural competences - and a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. A special attention will be given to developing navigation skills during the implementation of training. The Toolkit ‚Xplore LMI’ will cover the needs of practitioners working in training and guidance sector for specific support tools in their activities with PwID. It will consist in a set of practical instruments that can be used in leading accesibility and combat discrimination - both intentional or unintentional - in their activities with PwID. MCM provides tangible tools to empower PwID to make informed choices regarding their career and in support to guidance practitioners to make the most of their growth potential and capacityin order to ensure PwID have access to the same information and opportunities on the labour market. A number of 375 PwID will develop their career management skills through participation to piloting and validating the Guide ‚My career matters!’ and the Training package ‚Career information’. A number of 600 practitioners (career educators, VET and specialists of employment services) will benefit directly from the activities in the project, as they will have resources and tools for developing skills in offering customised services to PwID, thus becaming agents of change and promoters of social inclusion, building their own and their institutions` capacity to work with diverse service users, ensure participation and promote learning and employment for PwID. MCM will include an online platform as an Open Educational Resource to share with the target group of PwID, practitioners in educational and employment sectors and the general public the Guide, the Training content, the Toolkit, the resources and the wealth of knowledge the partners have generated over the implementation of the project.
The project's aim was to increase participation of PwID in lifelong learning programs and employment by making the resources regarding labor market information and training courses in career information more accessible and available. The justifications for the development of such accessible resources for PwID were very clear in both European and international policy, highlighting access to information as a human right. The project specific objectives were: • Developing career management skills of PwID through improving their access to accessible and available resources in career development and learning opportunities; • Improving teaching methods and tools in career information for staff from educational, VET and employment systems in order to better respond to the needs and expectations of PwID.
People with intellectual/learning disabilities (PwID) face a variety of obstacle that generally evolve in dependency of others, restricted choices, physical and social barriers and undesirable reactions of others. PwID face barriers created mainly by: (1) lack of resources and/or difficulties in using the available resources regarding labor market, occupations and learning opportunities. It is recognized that one of the main barriers for PwID to access life-long learning programs is the lack of accessible adult training and information material in easy-to-understand language (https://easy-to-read.eu/projects/Inclusion Europe). Even if the request for accessibility is an underlying premise throughout the Convention in the Rights of People with Disabilities (Art.3&4), no much progress was registered in providing accessible information for PwID in project partners' countries; (2) lack of services and/or difficulties in accessing available services. According to country reports by the Academic Network of European Disability Experts ANED, regional disparities that ensure an equal access to services and resources for disabled population are very large in Spain (ES) and Romania (RO) (ES –ANED 2018, pg. 26, RO-ANED 2018, pg. 22). Same report for RO underlines the lack of staff, proper spaces and personalized/adequate counselling services for people with disabilities (PwD) delivered by the National Employment Agency and also the lack of adequate materials, learning and working methods, adequate means of access and support services (counselling, school and professional orientation) as main obstacles for disabled students' access to education. In Lithuania (LT), vocational rehabilitation is accessible for less as 2% for accessible to all people with visual and intellectual impairments. (The Lithuanian Disability Forum Alternative Report, pg. 25). Another barrier is created by the providers due to their insufficient knowledge and understanding about PwID needs. All these barriers are commonly known all over European countries based upon PwID low representation in LLL and employment, which strongly implies there is recognized need for improvement in the area. PwID remain through the most excluded category from the labor market and three to four times less likely to be employed than people without disabilities. (World report on Disability” WHO 2011). The need for improving the first and perhaps most important part of the job search process - access to LMI - according with LMI needs of PwID, was identified by each project partner as a base for empowering this target group to become involved in shaping their learning, training and integration pathway and their careers.