The Wasps get the Breaker of Walls 2018
The Wasps, a job and activity scheme in Hafnarfjörður, and Ruth Jörgensdóttir Rauterberg and Þorpið, a leisure centre in Akranes, receive the Múrbrjótur 2018 award. The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is on 3 December each year. To mark the occasion, and in connection with a gathering held by Ás Support Association and Átak, the association for people with intellectual disabilities, to celebrate the day and the organisations' 60th and 25th anniversaries this year, Þroskahjálp presented its Múrbrjótinn award.
The Wasps, a job and activity scheme in Hafnarfjörður, and Ruth Jörgensdóttir Rauterberg and Þorpið, a leisure centre in Akranes, receive the Múrbrjótinn 2018 award. The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is on 3 December each year. To mark the occasion, and in connection with a gathering held by Ás Support Association and Átak, an association for people with intellectual disabilities, to celebrate the day and the organisations' 60th and 25th anniversaries this year, Þroskahjálp presented its Múrbrjótinn award.
The Bulldozer It takes its name from the fact that the award is given to those who, in the organisation's opinion, break down barriers in the rights and attitudes towards disabled people, thereby helping them to have the opportunity to become full participants in society and to live a normal life on an equal footing with others. The award is crafted at the workshop Ásgarður, where people with intellectual disabilities work.
The Wasps – innovation and employment training for disabled people
The Wasps, a work and activity programme in Hafnarfjörður, received the Múrbrjótur Award from the National Association for People with Disabilities in 2018 for its contribution to increasing opportunities for disabled people in the labour market. The project involves increasing opportunities for disabled people with high support needs to participate in the mainstream labour market. Emphasis is placed on being guided by the ideas of the service users. The innovation in the Wasps' work is that individuals with high support needs are given the opportunity to try the mainstream labour market with the support of assistants. Companies in Hafnarfjörður have actively participated and offered work trials for the Wasps with good results. Geitungarnir is a proactive service that strives to offer a diverse range of options, including work training or work trials in the mainstream job market alongside neurotypical people. Work is underway to build a bridge, for those who wish, from rehabilitation to employment with support in the mainstream job market. Creative projects are also run in The Wasps' premises, and work is carried out with the specific aim of empowering each individual through education, work and/or activities.
The project is carried out in collaboration with the users. The users chose the name for the workplace and took an active part in shaping the working environment. Ideas for workplaces come from the service users, and they direct the selection of how a company or organisation is approached regarding job training. Wishes and priorities for training come from the needs and desires of the service users, as do ideas for new and creative projects. A group of disabled people, who previously had few opportunities to utilise their skills in the mainstream labour market, now get to test themselves in employment there. The Wasps were an initial pilot project launched by the City of Hafnarfjörður in the autumn of 2015. The pilot project was a one-year collaboration between the Employment Authority and the City of Hafnarfjörður, focusing on innovation and vocational training for disabled people. The project is now run by the City of Hafnarfjörður and is part of the services offered by the city.
The Wasps have a shop in their premises at 14 South Street, The House's Shop, and sell there products they have produced with, for example, material reuse as a guiding principle. Their shop is open from 8 am to 5 pm every weekday. The Wasps' Facebook page is Wasps Working Group
Ruth Jörgensdóttir Rauterberg and The Village, a leisure centre in Akranes
Ruth Jörgensdóttir Rauterberg and Þorpið, a leisure centre in Akranes, receive the 2018 Múrbrjótur Award from the National Association for People with Disabilities for their contribution to diversity and equal opportunities. Ruth Jörgensdóttir Rauterberg, an occupational therapist and lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Iceland, and the leisure centre Þorpið in Akranes have developed a leisure activity programme for diverse groups based on collaboration, where everyone can take an active part, acquire new knowledge and gain new perspectives.
The leisure centre Þorpið provides leisure activities and preventive programmes for children and young people. In this work, great emphasis is placed on meeting the needs of each individual and tailoring activities to the community's requirements at any given time. In all of The Village's work, the diversity of community life is taken into account, and everyone can receive appropriate encouragement and support for their leisure activities. In recent years, The Village's activities have evolved. In parallel with this development, Ruth, with the support and in collaboration with the management of the Village, using a participatory action research approach, the leisure activities where the main aim was to create a platform for collaboration between the children and the leisure centre's supervisors, with the purpose of developing leisure activities for a diverse group of 10–12-year-olds.
The main conclusion of Ruth's research is that the ideology of one community for all. inclusion) It needs to come from within. The implementation of the philosophy and leisure activities with diverse groups of children is a learning process based on collaboration, which involves all partners taking an active part, gaining new perspectives and learning. Thus, development in the work occurs through collaboration, where everyone strives to utilise opportunities for participation, tackle obstacles, understand one another, adopt attitudes and values, and view diversity as an opportunity. One community for all is an ideal, an opportunity, a project and a challenge that requires initiative, flexibility, tolerance, creativity and courage. Following the research, this vision has been the guiding principle in all of the Village's work, with the aim of creating purpose and space for the company of children and young people, where everyone has the opportunity to develop their talents and pursue their interests with others.