Kent based charity Diagrama are working with organisations from Italy, France, Belgium and Spain on a joint mission to design tools and methods that will change conventional perceptions of disability. The two-year multi-country project, which has secured €80,000 in funding from the European Union Erasmus Plus Programme, aims to challenge what is a tendency to accept disability and instead look to promote ability. Representatives from Diagrama flew to Murcia in south-eastern Spain on the 12th October to meet with their European collaborators in the first series of face to face meetings.
Through recognising professional identity and diversity, the E-Profid project will aim to promote social change, showing that even severe disability is not a barrier to fulfilment and social inclusion. The group of collaborators will put together a training course; named ‘Facilitator of Change’ that will combine elements of psychology, client care, marketing, employment training, digital management and communication and empowerment.
The group of not-for-profit contributors will select and train a pilot group of 42 social care workers to work face to face with highly disadvantaged clients, raising awareness of the barriers faced by people living in the margins of society through their work.
David McGuire, CEO, Diagrama, said, “Diagrama is very excited to be working on this ground-breaking €80,000 European E-Profid project funded by the European Union Erasmus Plus Programme, to create a new, relevant, accessible training course and toolkit, to change long held perceptions of disability and change people’s emphasis to promote ability instead. Unfortunately, after working on many successful Erasmus projects in the past this will be the final project of this kind that we will be able to participate in, after the country exited the European Union. Given this, we are even more determined that as UK based custodians of this important funding we create, promote and implement a change in perceptions, deserving of their backing.“
The diverse nature of the project, with talent joining forces from all over Europe, means that the group can not only draw from lots of different perspectives but that there will also be a high level understanding of how different cultures and countries work towards high client service levels and how barriers to inclusion are overcome.
To find out more about the E-Profid project, visit the Diagrama website.
