The Provincial Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Seville (COCEMFE Seville) has organised a Focus Group to learn about the barriers and difficulties faced by professionals working for and with people with disabilities in rural areas in the north of Seville such as Alanís, El Pedroso and Guadalcanal.
This action is part of the “Rural Independent Life” European programme funded by Erasmus+. It aims to create an innovative and comprehensive training programme for professionals of municipal services working with disable people to teach them how to promote social inclusion and autonomy of disabled communities living in rural areas.
The meeting highlighted the training needs of professionals, including effective training in independent living and personal assistance for people with disabilities, which is almost unknown in these areas. Therefore, the “Rural In Life” project will develop a curriculum on these topics and then invite professionals to participate in the online course finally designed.
The result obtained showed that independent living and personal assistance in rural areas is a field of work that needs for a quick improvement and is much more unattainable than in urban areas. Furthermore, the group discussed all the drawbacks coming from the bureaucratic procedures and the governmental administrations that make many of professionals very difficult.
The Focus Group was attended by relatives of people with disabilities from the Association Abriendo Puertas Association, who presentend their needs in terms of independent living for people with disabilities in rural areas.
The mayoress of Alanís, Eva Cristina Ruiz, the president and treasurer of COCEMFE Seville, Juan José Lara and Nieves Márquez, also participated in the group with their contributions.