Page 9 - AHATA

a7
local Friday 8 July 2022
Local companies can provide opportunities to people with

intellectual disabilities

Centro Man na Obra every selves ask for the clients
day is focused on people to come do an internship,
with intellectual disabilities, and here the department
so that they can advance in goes and gives a talk and
their lives and also achieve guidance to the workers on
more inclusion in their com- how to work with the clients
munities, by teaching them and what they need to be
about the labor market so aware of when dealing
that they can feel they can with a person with an intel-
achieve more. lectual disability.

Cince 1985, Centro Man na Regarding education,
Obra is a department for Tromp explained that the
adults of the Foundation for challenge for people with
People with Intellectual Dis- intellectual disabilities is that
abilities (SVGA for its name there’s only basic schooling
in Dutch), which is tasked available for them. There
mainly with giving its clients are some special schools
the time so they can learn but these are private, and
aspects of a job, and this not all the parents have
way, maybe some of them they grow frustrated. Here in the company, and also For a person with intellectu- the means to pay for such
can get a permanent job in it’s the same. They can send work to the depart- al disability it’s easier when a school. This is the reason
the labor market. choose which group they ment where the clients can the work is structured, if that Tromp and the depart-
can go to learn a skill”, she complete it. There’s also every day the work is the ment have asked the gov-
Elvira Tromp, who works as says. the possibility for the clients same, they learn it faster ernment of Aruba to come
head of Centro Man na who can achieve more and they won’t have a up with advanced special
Obra, says that while she Currently the foundation is can do an internship at the problem to get used to it, education, where every
knows that not all her clients a bit short-staffed, having company. according to Tromp. student who completes
will manage to get a job, only ten workers, and they Dun’un Man at 16 years old
for those who don’t man- have to run the entire de- Even so, Tromp highlights Tromp, who has 32 years can still receive an educa-
age to get an independent partment. “This means we that local companies could of experience in this field, tion until they are 20 years
job they still want to show don’t have all the possibili- be a little bit more flexible says that in all those years old, so that their clients can
the client, their family and ties for the clients to get a in order to offer people she placed many clients at be more mature.
the entire community how job or to learn how to do a with intellectual disabilities work who are still working;
even having an intellectual job”, Tromp said. an opportunity to progress and others who go back Finalizing, Tromp said it
disability they can learn to further in their lives. home or back to the de- would be good if compa-
do a job. Of the group who learns a partment, because there nies which have the need
skill, they specialize in the Regarding the quality of life was a change in the struc- for workers think about
Centro Man na Obra has area of gardening, car of their clients, Tromp says ture of the work that they people with intellectual
capacity for 75 clients 16 wash, carpentry, candle that this starts at home, with were doing. disabilities, to give them a
years old and up, from vari- making, painting objects or acceptance from the fam- chance.
ous nationalities including painting on canvas; groups ily. Aside from acceptance There is a lack of awareness If any company wishes to
Aruban. They don’t have who go do work outside they also need the possi- in the community. Tromp get some help at work from
a maximum age because and groups who pack bility to eliminate some of expressed that they try to one of their clients, like
as long as the client can products for a local com- the overprotection, where provide this also. There are packing or pricing items,
participate with their goals, pany at the department’s there are families that see companies which them- the center is open for this.q
the client can come. Cur- building. that there are options for
rently, according to Tromp “These 10 workers do all the client, but they are
they have 73 clients. There this. We have a schedule afraid of letting them try.
was a time when they had for them, where this is the There are of course also
more than 75 clients, be- program we provide and benefits for the employer.
cause they also have some not every group works ev-
clients come part-time; but ery day. Because we only “Incentives, that if they
that depends on the cli- have ten people, we must take in a worker with an
ent’s age and their oldest try to bring variety to the intellectual disability they
client is 83 years old. clients. It’s the same as how could maybe get a reduc-
school has a schedule, we tion in taxes or pay less for
Tromp says that they have also have a schedule that imports, for example, to
different work groups, and a certain group works a make them also more at-
then clients themselves certain day”, Tromp ex- tractive. It’s true that some-
can choose in which group plains. times people think that by
they want to work. “If over taking our clients as workers
time we see that they keep As a department, they see there can be a deficiency
choosing a job that is not an improvement in the re- at work, but this doesn’t
for them, we guide them ception in the labor market have to mean that produc-
to go in another direction. compared to years ago. tivity goes down. You can
It’s the same as with other They have four local com- adjust the workload to the
young people, when they panies who opened their person”, Tromp empha-
choose a study that is not doors for the clients of Cen- sizes.
right for them, over time tro Man na Obra can work