Equal Partners Foundation

Learn all about Equal Partners Foundation, Disability Services in Valletta, - Malta

Equal Partners Foundation is a parent and professional-run, non-profit foundation supporting families with children and adults with disabilities and/or learning difficulties. Our foundation was set up when a group of 12 families, all parents of children with a disability, shared their need to feel more involved in their children’s education. As parents, we started seeing value in being involved in the endeavours of professionals, so that children are better served and may effectively benefit from any intervention.

We have grown considerably since the inception of our foundation in 1999. From just 12 families we are growing significantly, encompassing over 250 families as more and more people are asking for our services. Our philosophy is that as parents, we  should not simply abide by the professionals’ advice, but rather move towards efforts that rope in both parents and professionals.

As a foundation we tend to move away from the medical model, which views Read Morethe person as having some defect which should be “fixed”. We are rather inclined towards a social model, which focuses on the capabilities of the person, maximising the best ways that these children should be included into society, that is in the community, the school and the workplace. Inclusion is something we have worked a lot on as a foundation and still feel strongly about today.

We believe that persons with a disability gain immensely through interaction and growing alongside their peers. This will present them with challenges and facilitates their learning from peers. This is how we help youngsters learn how to get around, budget and travel alone by catching buses.

All our programmes are tailor-made to the particular needs of the individual. At the same time, parents’ wishes are also taken on board. The professionals and the parents will sit down and discuss what they are observing, and what they wish to see the child achieve, before discussing the best way forward to achieve these goals. Once a programme has been established, the sessions will take place at home, with the full involvement of the parents. The involvement of the parents means that they will gain the skills to continue the programme for their child during the rest of the time.

In the Stepping Out programme, young people with intellectual disabilities meet once a week for three hours, targeting skills such as communication and social skills, relationships, street behaviour and use of services. The programme lasts three years, although this may be extended if the group gets on particularly well.

We also hold ‘Sib Shops’, which are workshops for siblings of persons with a disability, to help them come to terms with disability in the family and any changes that may be taking place.

Our next target is helping out the youngsters to be able to access the labour market. We work closely with the University of Malta, which has a programme for inclusive education, and we are also in contact with associations and other professionals abroad.
The fact that people are choosing to ask about our services, and that the foundation has grown so much, is encouraging.