Enable’s welcomes delegates from Tukena Foundation

Enable welcomes delegates from the Tukena Foundation to learn and share best practice of deinstitionalisation, employability, and hear from Enable staff about our award-winning Personal Assistant (PA) Model.

The Tukena Foundation was founded in 1992 by Inclusion Finland KVTL which is a non-governmental organisation aiming to promote equal opportunities in society for people with intellectual disabilities and their families.  It also established a social enterprise called Tukena Ltd in 2005.

Enable is one of the founding members of Inclusion Europe, supporting self-advocates in 39 countries to campaign for the right to vote and deinstitutionalisation whereby the Tukena Foundation is also a member of this global network.

Following on from the highly successful Europe in Action conference, hosted by Enable, earlier this year, where 450 delegates from 40 countries around the world gathered in Glasgow to share an inspiring week of learning, knowledge-sharing, insight and networking to advance our cross-border commitment to disability inclusion; it is an honour to welcome individual organisations such as the Tukena Foundation to share our journey in what is our 70^th anniversary year.

The delegates visited Scotland to meet Enable representatives to learn about our three pillars: Enable Cares, Enable Works and Enable Communities:

• Enable Cares supports more than 1,000 people to live independently in the community through its award-winning PA Model of human-rights self-directed support; a model that is internationally recognised as a scalable and transferable best practice of social care and support.

• Enable Works supports people who are facing barriers to employment to obtain and sustain high quality and rewarding careers by providing a variety of work programmes, training and resources to help jobseekers with disabilities, or who are excluded from employment for a range of reasons. Empowering businesses and employers to reshape their approach to diversity, Enable Works supports inclusive recruitment, delivering tailored training and ongoing employer partnership.

• Enable Communities leads the charge in supporting individuals with learning disabilities to be self-advocates, working at individual, community, and national levels to drive meaningful change.

Following a day with Enable, the group visited Enable Works’ All in Model in Action in Edinburgh and held private meetings with Scottish Government representatives as well as a reception with the Honorary Consul for Finland.

CEO:

“Enable is committed to collaboration and working with partners across Europe, recognising that no one has all the answers; yet working together, we can find solutions to the societal challenges of today and the future.

“As we celebrate our 70^th anniversary year, we remain resolutely true to our values and mission to build an equal society, guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) Article 19 to live independently and be included in the community – we are delighted to learn from and share our experience with others here at Enable.”