A 'Social Connectivity' Laboratory called 'Integr@biltà' has been recently inaugurated in the 'La Ninfea' Community Centre of the municipality of Apricena, in the south-east of Italy (Puglia Region). The Laboratory will promote teleworking as a tool to facilitate the professional inclusion of people with disabilities.

The Laboratory is an initiative of the social co-operative 'Il Sorriso'. It was funded by the department for social solidarity of the Puglia Region under the framework of the Project 'Sax - B Advanced Systems'.

The idea of teleworking thus aims at exploiting the technological potential of the Community Centre's 12 IT workspaces; they are equipped with assistive devices easing the access to IT of the disabled persons. This structure has been already in place under a previous territorial social plan, and it is being used by three municipalities (Apricena, Lesina and Poggio Imperiale).

"We intend to outsource part of the municipal work to the differently abled persons who frequently visit the Social Connectivity Laboratory. We thus wish to create concrete employment opportunities thanks to the teleworking tool" said Vito Zuccarino, the mayor of Apricena.

Also present at the launch was Elena Gentile, Councillor for Social Policy of the Puglia Region, who said: "The Integr@bilità Laboratory is one of the 44 Social Connectivity Centres that the regional government has funded to promote a new inclusion culture, exploit differences and establish the conditions for supporting the life plans of differently abled people. These Centres are the places where it is possible to create new competences and to define genuine professional inclusion paths for those who face major challenges."

Therefore, the Integr@biltà Laboratory will be mainly used by those people with disabilities who visit the La Ninfea Community Centre on a daily basis. Elio Palma, president of the social co-operative explained that teleworking will not be the only activity proposed by the Laboratory; other activities will include IT courses, musicotherapy, video shooting and editing, social tourism, etc. "But the Laboratory aims to become a reference for the entire community, a place open to citizenship" Palma added.

The co-operative is indeed planning to draw up agreements with entities, institutions, voluntary organisations and nursing homes in an aim to put its space and equipment at the disposal of the community, thus enhancing socialisation and digital literacy.

Further information: 

• Original news article - 'Diversamente abili' website (in Italian)
• Municipality of Apricena (in Italian)