Choever has experience of the battle between public and private that has raged in the field of social services in recent years should visit this Experimental Centre for Guided Work in S. Vito al Tagliamento (Pordenone).
Established by La Nostra Famiglia, alongside its Multipurpose Rehabilitation Centre (which we will discuss on another occasion), it shows a valid way to achieve remarkable results in this field.
A visit to the entire complex (consisting of facilities for diagnosis, a rehabilitation centre with special primary and secondary schools, and a guided work centre) should be mandatory in the training of anyone who wishes to work in politics on behalf of people with mental handicap. The high scientific level, the seriousness of the work, and the evident affection in human relationships — primary characteristics of the activities of the Associazione La Nostra Famiglia — are clearly visible here and together provide a first-rate service to these disadvantaged young people.
The general programme of the Rehabilitation Centre consists in evaluating for each child a "functional profile" — that is, the definition of the maximum development that his qualities can attain — and then enabling him to reach this maximum possible development, before discharging him so that he can be reintegrated into his own environment.
The highest age at which young people are discharged from the centre is 16.
Those who have sufficient qualities to enter the workforce in the future are admitted to the Guided Work Centre (named after Don Luigi Monza, founder of the Association) and remain there for four years, before entering employment in external companies for which they are by then qualified.
Naturally, the education and development of functional and character potentials that are achieved in this centre are possible because they form the final part of a project and a path of growth begun many years earlier for each young person.
A description of the rehabilitative and training work carried out in this centre would be lengthy and in part highly technical. Here we prefer to give you an idea of it through a series of images and captions (more recent information here, ed.)
The Centre is at once a special vocational school and a business. Sixteen girls and 7 boys work there. 13 of them are under 20 years old and 10 are older. They are directly guided by four full-time educator-instructors. An original task of the instructors is to invent devices and equipment that allow the most productive use of the young people's limited abilities. The "reel" photographed above is one example.
Composed of several trolleys secured to the spokes of a central wheel, it has enabled the correct assembly of envelopes containing a set number of tiles, screws, nuts, and small plates, without having to check them at the end of the work process at great cost in time. The device can be seen on the left of the photograph above. The tall structure in the centre is part of another invention to facilitate the young people's work.
A young man concentrated on an assembly job. After the first deliveries completed on behalf of three companies, the reaction has consistently been: we didn't think that... Compliance with delivery deadlines, pricing, and technical specifications is the best advertising the Centre has among companies in the region. The Centre was built with contributions from banking institutions, associations and schools, companies and businesses, and private individuals.
The primary function of the Centre is the training and preparation of young people for work. Manual training is emphasised in certain apparently simple tasks, such as the one shown above, which consists of threading a long spring onto a shaft of complicated shape: an operation that requires considerable coordination, grip, and manual dexterity. The Centre endeavours to rotate all the young people through all the different tasks.
Training in the demands of work is the most interesting and complex part. Doing a job one does not enjoy, accepting having to leave a gratifying or reassuring job because another one needs doing; keeping a regular schedule, the same as that in use in companies; overcoming the negative consequences of interpersonal tensions — these are the major outcomes at which this training aims. Above, a young man working at a machine.
This young woman mounts the Invicta badge on zip fastener sliders. In accordance with safety regulations, the machine — a kind of mechanical hammer — can only operate when two buttons are pressed simultaneously with both hands.
The young people are regularly insured with INAIL and with a private insurance company. Some of them come to work on their own, others on the minibuses that bring children to the Centre's school. For young people with particular difficulties, a schedule is arranged according to their specific needs.
Two young women assemble clothes pegs. At the bottom one can see the simple device invented by an assistant that makes the assembly easy. Some tasks, like this one, have no deadline and are very useful for filling the gaps that arise between one order and the next. It would be bad for the young people's education, say the educators, to arrive at work in the morning and have nothing specific to do. Another standby task is the recovery of faulty zip fastener sliders.
Gluing advertising prints onto cardboard. Once a young person has learned to do a job well, the instructors assign them another one so that they develop more abilities; for some, the transition to a different job is difficult because change is a source of insecurity. But training for work also consists in acquiring the ability to change. The sense of rotation — across days and among people — is important in training.
A specific task can turn out to be particularly suited to someone. For example, disturbed young people are relaxed and satisfied when working on assembling metal grids: they probably benefit from the regularity of the work combined with the physical effort and the breadth of the movements. Motivating the young people to work by making them feel gratified — especially when money is not a sufficient incentive — is an essential aspect of training.
Between the four workshops of the centre there are large glass panels that enhance the sense of communication among the people at work. The young people are also helped by two retired volunteers. When delivery deadlines require more intensive activity, volunteers come to lend a hand. The young people are not urged to increase their work pace; greater productivity will instead be the result of a more complete development of their abilities. Indeed, each young person's work record ultimately measures their growth as well.
As in businesses, there is a small self-service canteen where the young people and instructors have lunch. The staff are paid according to the healthcare contract. Regular volunteers receive a reimbursement for travel expenses. The young people receive the same allowance as students in vocational training schools. The centre's sources of funding are almost entirely private; recently the region has begun to pay a limited contribution. The centre has an atmosphere of work — not obsessive, but serious.
In 1986 the Centre's turnover was 95 million lire, and costs were 182 million. The young people in training at the centre have various types of handicap: mild and moderate mental deficiencies, including those accompanied by personality disorders, Down syndrome, severe hearing impairment or dysphasia, spastic tetraparesis.
The number of companies entering into working relationships with the centre is growing.
The most critical moment is when the young people leave the centre to enter companies that are suited to their characteristics.
For this reason, placements too are guided and facilitated through agreement between the centre and the company, passing through intermediate stages such as work experience, with costs borne by the centre, and temporary placement with "work grants" and insurance paid by the centre.
It is a laborious path, and one still little travelled. The young people follow it with excellent results, thanks to the human qualities and competencies they find here, as well as to the functionality and harmony of the environment. Here, to conclude this visit to the Centre, are two external images, visible through the windows.
- Sergio Sciascia, 1987