Titled ‘University Training Programme to Improve the Socio-Occupational Skills of Young People with Intellectual, Developmental and/or Autistic Spectrum Disabilities’ (UNINCLUV) and launched from Adeit, this postgraduate course will provide the student body with a Certificate of Continuous Training at its finalisation, planned for next month in June, once the 150 hours of internships and work placements with the support of different companies or University services have been conducted.

Among the cross activities developed by the student body, it stands out, for example, to live the experience of the university environment with a tour through the faculties and centres or attending undergraduate classes, like the did in the Faculty of Teacher Training, in the Tarongers Campus.

This action is a part of the general objectives of the course, like facilitating inclusive experiences for normalisation at the core of the university community, or contributing to an integral customised training that allows young people with intellectual disabilities an optimal participation as full members of their community.

In the academic and practical section, some of the objectives are to apply concepts, theories and principles to problem solving and decision making; to acquire socio-occupational that contribute to their growth as citizens; acquire and express social and emotional skills to successfully interact with others in teamwork environments; acquire skills for the use information and communications technology (ICT); and develop flexible attitudes for adapting to change, as well as internships and work placements in real work environments.

Ultimately, the goals this third edition of UNINCLUV has decided are the training and access to the workforce for young people with intellectual disabilities, who represent the 40% of all of the disabled youth and that also face bigger difficulties when it comes to finding a job.

Learning and meeting “fantastic people”: lo live the Universitat

The student body of UNINCLUV has shown their satisfaction when being a part of this programme, stressing propositions like ICTs and cybersecurity training or inclusive learning through sign language; but above all the integration of all the aspects the programme has taken its time and those it has provided “to get to know the Universitat”, “to get to know fantastic people: professors, classmates, new friends...”, “to learn from the training and the people who has taught us”, etc.

That is how they have expressed it during the UV principal’s visit  Maria Vicenta Mestre, who has initiated a joint and personal dialogue with each of the members of the programme, together with the academic co-director  Celeste Asensi, director of UVdisability, and with Vicenta Ávila, technical co-director of the course alongside Carmen Carmona.

The encounter has taken place in the Espai Vives, “your space, the UV student body’s space”, the principal said, showing them her support and affection for participating in UNINCLUV, which reaches its third edition with an 80% participation from the UV faculty and a 20% from collaborating organisations: Fundación Asindown, the Instituto Valenciano de Atención Sociosanitaria (IVASS), la Asociación Valenciana de Ayuda a la Parálisis Cerebral (AVAPACE) and Plena Inclusión Comunitat Valenciana.

The Universitat de València continues to be at the forefront in matters of disability assistance, being the in-person Spanish university with a larger number of students ―more that a thousand enrollments―, and a leader in inclusion and equality policies for decades through UVdisability, from where specific programmes for disability assistance adapted to the needs of each member of the university community have been worked on.

And the thing is that the inclusion of people with disabilities who are a part (or will be a part) of the UV community: professors and researchers, administrative and service staff, and student body is an aspect of vital importance to the Universitat de València.