Facility for intellectually disabled starts operation

CEBU - The Department of Social Welfare and Development has granted registration and license to the Balay Alima sa Sugbu Foundation Incorporated’s facility for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Balay Alima, in barangay Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City, finally started operation of its sheltered workshop for adults with intellectual disabilities recently after being declared the newest registered non-government welfare agency of DSWD.

The foundation was established in 1999 by a group of Special Education Teachers who wanted to give opportunities to the adults with intellectual disabilities --also known as mental retardation-- to find a job or discover other decent ways of earning a living.

Balay Alima aims to develop the full potentials of their clients as unique individuals at the same time enhance their abilities in different areas of their being.

A teacher of special children, Maria Delia Minoza, who is the current president of Balay Alima, said that Special Education Center and schools in the late 1990’s cater to mixed needs of children and adults with exceptionalities like the gifted, intellectual disabilities, autism, hearing and visual impairment and learning disabilities.

Adults with intellectual disabilities, as she observed, can hardly finish the two- to four-year vocational course. Because of this, founders of Balay Alima designed and formulated a special individualized training program to meet each trainee’s needs.

They also try to teach them how to put their limited intelligence to good and practical use and eventually make them become more self-reliant, independent and responsible members of the community.

Balay Alima is coordinating with Quore Shichinohe Fukishikai, a non-profit organization based in Japan, to get additional funding support for the sheltered workshop.

Minoza said that with their facility, a person with intellectual disabilities will be able to find a job that matches his or her abilities.

Minoza added that the center is the first of its kind in Central Visayas and is hoping to reach out to more adults with intellectual disabilities in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and its neighboring towns. -Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)