A Community Day-Time Living Space for Physically Disabled Persons

The project

Aurora aims to assist a small group of persons with physical disabilities within the community to achieve their maximum level of sustainable independence as contributing, responsible and equal participants in society.

What are the problems?

In Lebanon, persons with physical disabilities face many difficulties in performing basic daily activities.  Many different types of infrastructure in the community prevent them from living an independent life. The main difficulties that people with physical disabilities face in their daily lives are: inaccessible transportation, lack of credit in employment environments, inaccessible housing, inaccessible public accommodations, discriminatory social attitudes associated with a lack of respect.

Our proposed solution

Breaking the cycle of poverty and isolation suffered by people with physical disabilities, and combat social exclusion by:

• Offering them a small community living space designed and adequately equipped for their needs
• Developing their skills to enable them to master a marketable task that will help them build a career and a better future.
• Creating workshops that will help produce quality, marketable, income-generating goods or services.

How is this project innovative?

By providing a day-time living space with adequate housing amenities, accessible access, social services, education, employment, safety nets, Aurora aims to create a Daytime Center for Assessment, Vocational Training, Job Creation and Recreation”. This center will:

• Be actively involved in facilitating or enhancing the independent living of individuals and communities with physical disabilities.
• Offer skills and abilities development by providing access to education and training and assistance in identifying economic opportunities.
• Bring together aspects of social development and capitalist orientation, in an effort to motivate progressive decision making regarding personal and community economic development.
• Act as a turnkey resource center for people with physical disabilities.
• Help centralize the demands and needs of the physically disabled within the community.
• Raise awareness and educate the public about the independent living abilities of people with disabilities (i.e., to form groups of participants who go to schools and universities to give talks on some topic, preferably unrelated to their problem, to provide exposure that would help change public perception and portray them as having the abilities of any other non-disabled person).

Who will the beneficiaries be?

The center will focus primarily on people:

• Our identified target population is located in Beirut and Mount Lebanon area.
• 18 years of age and older
• Suffering from a physical disability due mainly to permanent injuries
• Widely identified through the Aurora foundation social service network
• With the motivation to participate

The project will not exclude other disadvantaged groups if the capacity to do so exists.

In cases of severe injury where beneficiaries do not have the capacity to work, their immediate family or other person responsible for their well-being will be allowed to We could partner with the Ministry of Social Affairs, UNESCO, UNDP, the Lebanese Union for the Physically Handicapped, we will connect with the Chabrouh Center of the Order of Malta Lebanon which organizes day camps for the handicapped, we will ask for subsidies and grants wherever we can get it, and mainly strive to become sustainable.

Who will our partners be?

We could partner with the Ministry of Social Affairs, UNESCO, UNDP, the Lebanese Union for the Physically Handicapped, we will connect with any NGO for the handicapped and any other NGO sharing the same goals; we will ask for subsidies and grants wherever we can get it, fundraise and mainly strive to become sustainable.

How can the project benefit the disabled group?

The financial independence of the physically challenged persons will be increased through the education and technical and practical training they will receive; they will be more self-reliant through increased development of their abilities and their transformation into marketable benefits; they will be helped to find employment and thus be better integrated into society; they will socialize with others like themselves in the center; they will be well informed, have sports and leisure activities, and receive emotional and practical support. Empowerment, independence, greater participation in important decisions that affect their lives and recognition and respect for their differences will certainly increase their happiness.