Hand in Hand Foundation (HU)

This report focuses on the role of adapted work settings in the international framework provided by the UNCRPD; in particular, special attention has been given to Article 26 and 27, as they both deal with principles, measures and services offered by adapted work settings.
Adapted work settings, commonly known also as sheltered workshops, are not referred to in the UNCRPD. This requires clarifications for the thousands of people that benefit from their services and whose future looks therefore uncertain.
The analysis was carried out starting from three main subjects:
- what the Convention brought in general terms through its paradigm shift and the subsequent challenges for social services
- the analysis of the current text of Article 26 and 27 and the links to the role of sheltered workshop matters
- the history of the discussions around the inclusion of sheltered workshops in the UN CRPD.

Services like sheltered workshops may sometimes and very often fulfill more than one function for persons with disabilities, thus their compliance to the UN CRPD articles is particularly sensitive. In the framework of a holistic approach to persons with disabilities, where disability itself is not the focus of attention, but everything is about the individual and the enjoyment of his rights, it is of utter importance to keep a good balance between the multitude of skills, personal choices, possibilities of individual development and society’s response.    
The report provides a state of play of possible links existing between sheltered workshops and the UN CRPD in order to gain a view on future developments needed in the provision of work opportunities to persons with (intellectual) disabilities.

The full report is available here.

For more information on the report please contact Ms. Sabrina Ferraina at sabrina.ferraina@easpd.eu.

The Hand in Hand Foundation was founded in 1993 with the aim to improve the situation of children and adults with intellectual and multiple disability, their families and their caretakers as well as to help specialists and NGOs at national level. 

Main areas of our work 

1. Advocacy – We support as many NGOs as possible, that provide services for people living with intellectual or multiple disabilities and provide them with information and consultation as well as by organising conferences and other professional programs for them. This way we are able to map the main needs and difficulties, and by working on the collected data we try to represent their interests at each possible forum in the field of social politics and legislation.

2. Shaping of public opinion – We try to reach this goal by organising more and more events in order to break down the barriers still existing between the disabled and the non-disabled members of our society. As part of this work, we can mention: integrated stage plays, lobby-events, public opinion-shaping campaigns covering the whole territory of Hungary.

3. Individual Help – Although our foundation’s main aim is to find overall solutions, we also assess the situation of families turning to us and provide them with information, advice and material donations – depending on our means.

4. Information Service – Through our work we discovered that the families of disabled people and the professionals working for them are not informed enough about their possibilities and the service -providing institutions. Due to our continuous data collection, we now have a data base that provides adequate information on services available for people with intellectual disabilities. 

5. Adult education – The foundation runs 15 different further training courses for professionals at the moment.

6. Transnational activities – We participate in as many international projects as possible and regularly take part in the activities of the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), which provides our organization with training on networking, stakeholder cooperation and EU budget lines.  

All information about Hand in Hand Foundation is available at:

Lónyay street, 19 

1093 Budapest, Hungary

Tel. +36 1 215 52 13

Fax + 36 1 217 81 15 

Website : www.kezenfogva.hu/english     

The link towards the Hungarian project website: http://www.kezenfogva.hu/?q=PASS_IT_ON

Contact person for PASS IT ON within Hand in Hand Foundation: Mr. Dániel Gál, gal.daniel@kezenfogva.hu

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