Discover inspiring stories that show us that good practices in labor inclusion in Barcelona are a reality we want to encourage more companies to commit to and act upon.
Svetlana is an HR administrator. When she arrived in Spain from her native country, Moldova, she knew she couldn’t continue working as a teacher. Thanks to her time at Fundació Privada ECOM, she has managed to reorient her career and get a job where she feels valued. She reasons: “if a company recognizes an employee’s work, the worker will always give back double.”
For Svetlana, companies that want good inclusion must take into account people’s needs: adapting working hours, facilities… And that all this must be done “based on respect, empathy, and recognition.”
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: FUNDACIÓ PRIVADA ECOM
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: ACIDH
Maria is a geriatric care assistant at the La Trinitat Residence, Day Center, and Community Center, part of the Fundació Privada Vella Terra. Her participation in acidH has helped her trust herself, meet new people without fear of being pigeonholed, and show that she is much more valuable than she was made to feel in the past. For Maria, inclusion means understanding that anyone, without labels, can make mistakes but can also do well. And that: “everyone has the right to work, to have dignity.”
Esther worked as a kitchen assistant until she was diagnosed with leukemia. During her recovery, she occupied her mind with academic training in a new professional field. When she was discharged, she was deemed unfit for her previous job but could continue working in other types of vacancies.
That’s why she decided to seek advice through social assistance. There, she discovered Fundació Privada ECOM, where in just one month she reoriented her career as an operator at Martí Tor pharmacy in Barcelona. Esther reflects on disability: “maybe you can’t do some things, but you are capable of doing many more.”
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: FUNDACIÓ PRIVADA ECOM
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: FUNDACIÓ ESCLEROSI MÚLTIPLE
Montse is the CEO of MonSegur, an inclusive insurance brokerage. She decided to set up her own company because one day she realized that this sector was discriminating against her due to her disability. Montse is also an LGTBI activist and has been a beneficiary of the FEM Digital Talent from the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, which promotes the digital reorientation of women with disabilities.
As CEO, Montse acknowledges that she is not 100% inclusive because it is very difficult, and she believes that “all people, whether we have diversity or not, have an obligation to train ourselves and to approach other entities that work to make companies inclusive, and to take a step forward every day.” This is because one can know a lot about disability, but be unaware of the situation of migrants, for example.
Sheila is a therapeutic pedagogy teacher in a public school and works with kindergarten and primary school students. She participates in ACAPPS and is very familiar with having to find resources for people with hearing impairment and raising awareness in her environment to consider their needs, for example, when she needs to lip-read.
One of the reflections Sheila shares with her students is that “you have to believe in the possibilities, that they do exist, and that you be yourself to keep going, which is what everyone can do.” She would explain similarly to companies: “don’t stay on the sidelines and consider capabilities and skills for better communication, better expression, and collaborative work so that everyone moves forward together. Trust in the possibilities.”
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: ACAPPS
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: AURA FUNDACIÓ
Abel is fulfilling a dream: he is a footballer and works at Barça. His story is an extraordinary example of overcoming adversity. He decided to leave a job where he felt excluded due to his condition and, recommended by his psychologist, began to play sports to try to be selected for a football club… which turned out to be his favorite club. The Barça team was selecting people to form the Fundació Barça Genuine team, created to bring football closer to players with intellectual disabilities.
Abel and his entire family were overjoyed when they were informed that he had been selected by the club as a player. When, a month later, Aura Fundació informed him that the club was also hiring people to fill vacancies, he did not hesitate to apply for the offer, for which he was also selected. It is then that Abel reflects that, despite the complications and suffering he has had to face in his life, he is now fulfilling a dream.
Abel’s words go beyond the wisdom that experience brings, and they bring us closer to the essence of what decent and inclusive work should be. He claims that people must feel good in their workplaces, and that they must feel that their work generates value. He reflects that leaving people with disabilities excluded at home, without the opportunity to contribute and feel useful, benefits neither the person nor society. This reflection is evident in his philosophy when he goes to play at the club to demonstrate his abilities and even to win: “to win people’s morale”. To business owners, he leaves a message: it adds value to hire people with disabilities; they can feel better.
Anna is an administrator at Aura Fundació. In her job, she feels valued and is fulfilling her dream of helping people. She notices that her friendliness – her contagious smile – and her good administrative work are appreciated, and that’s why she is happy in this job.
“If the company values you, I think everyone would work more comfortably, wouldn’t they?”, she reflects when asked what she understands by a company where people work better, where environments that exclude no one are promoted.
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: AURA FUNDACIÓ
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: FCSD
Carlos is a room assistant and is very happy to work facing the public in a place with such a high influx of people as Hard Rock Café. The naturalness with which Carlos works with the public is the result of personal growth thanks to the help of the Catalan Down Syndrome Foundation (FCSD). Carlos was very shy, but thanks to the foundation’s activities, he has made friends and trained professionally.
Although he believes that companies have improved a lot in terms of inclusion, more effort is needed, and people with intellectual disabilities should be hired in more jobs: “anyone can be valuable for a job; they just need to be taught the tasks and that’s it.”
Décimo had been self-employed for 30 years until he decided to leave his job and apply for another company. Through the Labor Advisory Team (EAL) of the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD), he reoriented his professional profile and, thanks to this process, he works for Avan Serveis Externs attending to the public in a car park.
According to Décimo, employers should not focus so much on the resume, but rather on how much desire the person has to work for the company. And it is necessary to consider experience not only professional, but also life experience. “Because life also offers many experiences and learnings.”
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: EAL – IMPD
ENTITY SUPPORTING THE TESTIMONIAL: EAL – IMPD
Carles believes that companies seek 100% productivity and therefore sometimes prefer to hire people who have a faster learning capacity, but who may have less training or are not as suitable for the job as another person who has a slightly slower learning capacity. However, he considers this point of view fallacious: “In a good environment, if things are explained well, we are as productive as anyone.”
Currently, he is an administrator at Llum Solidària Inclusiva. What he likes most is being active, feeling useful. Carles has overcome very complicated times. During his childhood, doctors and educators detected that he had a slower learning pace, but it wasn’t until he was 15 that he was diagnosed with Asperger’s. As an adult, he has developed professionally and has more patience and a positive attitude at work through the Labor Advisory Team (EAL) of the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD). Also, thanks to the Tres Turons Foundation, he took an administration course and began to gain experience and guidelines for navigating the professional world.
The stories of good inclusion practices have been made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Labor Inclusion Services (SIL) that are part of the Network for Labor Inclusion in Barcelona, the XIB, a network promoted by the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD) of the Barcelona City Council.
Currently, 12 Labor Inclusion Services (SIL) are part of it: AREP (Association for the Rehabilitation of People with Mental Health Problems), Catalan Association for Integration and Human Development (acidH), Association of families and people with hearing impairment (ACAPPS), AURA Fundació, Labor Advisory Team (EAL) of the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities (IMPD) of the Barcelona City Council, Catalan Down Syndrome Foundation (FCSD), CHM Mental Health Foundation, DAU Foundation, Els Tres Turons Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (FEM), Joia Foundation, Private ECOM Foundation.
We want to make visible that, although a strong research effort has been carried out through the entities linked to the XIB, people with mental health problems have not been able to participate in the project, to expose their situation and show their faces, due to the strong stigma around mental health that still persists in our society.
