A delegation of the Polish Association for People with Disabilities PSOUU recently visited the workshops of the Lebenshilfe Detmold in North Rhine-Westphalia. Bernd Conrad, Vice-President of BAG WfbM and general manager of Lebenshilfe Detmold, had invited them to learn more about the Detmold Model of Learning. [more]

There are 700 workshops for adapted work in Germany. According to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, they support 268.000 people with disabilities. The complex integration workshops provide is aimed to provide more support than „just“ employment. [more]

The importance of the theoretical foundations of the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) for the description of participation (in working life) is indisputable. As a consequence, it has increasingly been used in scientific studies. [more]

Since 1 January 2008, nine partners have been working together to develop the JobBudget. This project is aimed at persons who are, due to the nature or severity of their disability, entitled to a workshop place. The goal of JobBudget is it, to support them on their way into the open labour market. [more]

From 2nd of June to 20th of September 2008, the BG Clinic Tour demonstrates what impressive achievements are possible in sport despite a disability. The BG Clinics are the clinics run by the Accident Prevention & Insurance Associations in Germany. Sport can give the courage to face life and improves the quality of life - this message has been successfully passed on by athletes with disabilities, who are participating in the tour of emergency hospitals. At eleven locations, persons with disabilities and the interested public have the opportunity to directly approach nine Paralympic stars. [more]

What structures and attitudes are needed to integrate more persons with disabilities into working life? This fundamental question was addressed during a two-day conference on the participation of disabled persons in Croatia. Experts from the United States (U.S.), Germany, Austria and the neighbouring countries of Croatia met in Zadar to deal with the topic. [more]

Regarding the third poverty and wealth report of the Federal Government recently issued, the Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Olaf Scholz declared the gap between rich and poor was still widening. In an interview with a popular German newspaper, Scholz quoted from the report. Generally, social injustice is growing. Nearly 25 percent of the German citizens are nowadays affected by poverty. [more]

On 22 and 23 May 2008, the annual EU ministerial conference on the rights of people with disabilities will take place in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. The conference is organised by the Slovenian EU-Presidency. The national ministers responsible for persons with disabilities debate on the situation in local communities, employment and accessibility in the broadest sense. The central theme of the conference will be the implementation of the "UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", that was signed by the EU Member States in 2007. [more]

On 23 April 2008, the Disability Intergroup met in the European Parliament in Strasbourg to discuss the report on the future of social security systems and pensions. The Members of the European Parliament (MEP) met with representatives of organisations for the integration of persons with disabilities. [more]

All over Germany, more and more companies rely on cooperation with workshops - also for cost reasons. In order to promote such cooperation, the State Federation of Workshops (LAG:WfbM) in Lower Saxony and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen was present at the Hanover Industrial Fair. [more]

The third symposium of the workshop department of the Association of Anthroposophical Therapeutic Pedagogy was captioned “Work and participation between heteronomy and self-determination”. During the two day conference in Altenschlirf, specialised staff from workshops for adapted work discussed the topic of self-determined participation on the one side and possible heteronomy as given by the working process on the other side. [more]

Günter Mosen, chairman of “Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Werkstätten für behinderte Menschen e. V.” (BAG WfbM), has recently received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German President Horst Koehler acted on a suggestion by Kurt Beck, the Prime Minister of the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate, who nominated Mosen for his commitment to socially disadvantaged people. [more]

The Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Reinhard Marx, is convinced that lower incomes in Germany are not sufficient: “The wages are just too low. People who work should earn more than an unemployed person”, stated Marx. At the same time, the bishop underlined that an unemployed person should receive enough money to decently care for his family. [more]

The Catholic bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Gebhard Fürst, calls for a "moral compass" for the economy. In his opinion, the recent scandals have contributed to a loss of confidence in the social order. Such a moral compass should not only include materialistic values. [more]

Persons with disabilities, especially those with special needs, rarely participate in vocational training measures. In most cases, they are directly transferred to some form of day-care centre after their graduation from school. However, day-care completely lacks coherent standards and clear legal claims. In addition, legal requirements as laid down in section 136, paragraph 3 of Book Nine of the German Social Code, are interpreted differently from region to region. [more]