Cagliari – Inclusion comes with eating. But also building spaces where the right to work is not challenged by ableist prejudice and accessibility is the main course of a fixed menu that looks to the participation of the whole community; as in inclusive gastronomy Us Others.
In fact, in Cagliari, in via Pergolesi, there is a project with two objectives that are being carried out at the same time. The first is to offer the city a point of sale of ready meals that meet individual dietary needs; the second, but not least, is instead at the same time promote the employment of people with disability.
FROM THE DAY CENTER TO THE WORKPLACE
“We are an opportunity for many.” This is how he describes gastronomy, in the video interview you find below, William Salis, president of the Controvento cooperative which created the Noi altri project. Controvento is in fact a social cooperative that was founded in 2019 in Assemini, a few kilometers from Cagliari. The aims of the organization are to provide to marginalized categories.
In this way elderly people, people with disabilities, people in conditions of social marginalization they can take advantage of new opportunities and ideas for personal growth, going beyond the limits and barriers imposed by society. Over the years, this has given rise to the creation of projects and small interactive realities that support the values of mutual help and solidarity as well as inclusion in all contexts of life.
Controvento also manages the Day Centre, a semi-residential and socio-educational structure which aims to help the people who pass through it to strengthen their skills and maintain autonomy, aiming to improve the quality of life and self-determination of the person. The Day Centre, for the Noi altri project, was training laboratory and testing stage for the new working life.
The laws for job placement are there but they are not exploited.
FREE TO WORK AND TO MAKE WRONGS
«We tried to make job placements ourselves and create our own workplace, because over the years we have tried but without success: we collected a lot of doors in the face. This is why the Noi altri project was born, a working reality where we make kids work in a protected context, where everyone who works here has had experience at the day center so people know each other and have that sensitivity useful for avoiding prejudice” , explains Salis.
«The laws for job placement are there – he adds – but they are not exploited. When we tried to make job placements we encountered the lack of availability of some companies, even in the presence of the educator.” Ableist bias, as well as denying access to opportunities, according to Salis «it does not give value to the work that the person can offer».
«Our kids today wake up with something to do, they wake up with a goal», continues Salis. «Here they are free to work and even possibly make mistakes. The kids started with internships, they have shifts but we are working to cover the entire working week: in the day center we continue to train in gastronomy in a special room.”
However, inclusion is not just about job placement: gastronomy is good for everyone. «We like to say that we are a 360-degree inclusive reality not only because we are an accessible and attentive place, but also because we have the help of two kitchens: this allows us to manage the production of classic foods in one, and the gluten-free and lactose-free, with particular attention also to vegan and vegetarian dishes. We are a sales point so we prefer takeaway, even if there are some tables here in the deli too.” The focus is also on sustainability: «We are very careful about recycling, avoiding food waste and then 90% of our packaging is recycled: this is also inclusion», explains Salis.
GASTRONOMY OPENS THE DOORS TO THE WORLD
«For me it is a beautiful thing but above all a new thing, we didn’t have the open doors of the world of work». Valentino Lecca from Noi altri takes care of the dining room. He is one of the people with disabilities who, thanks to the job placement project, started working in gastronomy “a month ago”. «I like contact with people: here I have the opportunity to interact with different people, to get to know them. My job consists of listening and welcoming customers, making them feel welcome: I open and close the door for them, arrange the tables and provide support in the dining room.”
«Before I had tried other work experiences but this is the first in which I actually have a role», he adds. During the training activities, among the aspects on which the future workers were able to focus there was also the importance of teamwork, of the brigade. «Here there is no one better or better than the others – Valentino Lecca always explains – we are like a team where everyone has their own task and we all work together for gastronomy.” An advice? «To come and visit us and try the desserts!».
