On July 9th, 2021, the second session of the Inclusion Open Day was successfully held at the Inclusion Factory.
This Open Day event was planned for the family group members of the Inclusion China Network, which is part of the Beijing Geng Foundation, an organisation that endeavours to help people with disabilities. Through a day of on-site exploration and discussion, they learned about Inclusion Factory’s experience in the field of inclusive employment. Our aim was to facilitate inclusive employment in their respective fields.
During the Open Day, we had the honour to invite the head of Inclusion China Network and 11 of their representatives to Taicang.These experts in the field of intellectual disabilities come from many different cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hubei, Zhejiang, Ningxia and Anhui. We also invited the families of employees of the Inclusion Factory to exchange ideas with the participants.
Into the Inclusion Factory
We led everyone through our factory and introduced various partners as well as their contributions. They are the reason we are here today.
Then everyone learned about our SAP Intelligent Shift Management System and its application to the employment of people with intellectual disabilities. This system helps us solve many pain points in the operation of our factory and helps our employees increase efficiency.
The participants observed the production line up closely, watching the workers carefully assembling on the work platform. They admitted that it was quite different from what they had imagined. Looking at the employees so focused on work, the Open Day participants were all deeply touched.
A Common Goal in Taicang
Wangli, Program Development Manager of Inclusion Factory, showed everyone the application of Work Redesign. She emphasized that what we want to change is not the employees, but the work itself.What’s hard is not work but to change one’s mindset to redesign work.
In the group discussion session, everyone spoke freely and were so focused on learning from each other that they almost missed lunch time.
Q1: How is work being redesigned for people with intellectual disabilities in the bakery?
Mr Dong Feng, chairman of the Inclusion China Project Management Committee: For the bakery project, the employees may not be able to adapt to the taste of the fermentation process. Therefore, we need to transform the facilities. In the ingredient’s preparation process, the measuring cups are modified so that employees can achieve operability.
In addition, we work on accessibility hardware facilities, visual prompt systems, employment counsellors, R&D and transformation of equipment tools, assembly line hygiene, and more.
Q2: How can we design a 3-5-year growth plan for employees with intellectual disabilities to help them get employed by the mainstream workplace?
Zhuo Qu, Beijing Rongai Rongle Supportive Employment Project Manager: There is a process of four steps. Start by leaving the house, then attending handcrafting workshops, thirdly trying out integration workplace, and finally mainstream inclusive employment.
In the integration workplace, the working abilities of employees are improved while their professional literacy is enhanced through communication, collaboration, and self-management. At the same time, the collaborative help of enterprises, institutions and parent organizations is needed so that employees have a sense of autonomy to achieve self-advocacy.
How would you design it if it were you?
The Past and Future of the Inclusion Factory
At the forum in the afternoon, Marina, Director of Training and Development at Inclusion Factory, narrated how the project is completed practically, step by step, from start to finish so that participants could gain an in-depth understanding of our development history, employment situation, accessibility facilities and equipment as well as the operation model.
In the exchange, everyone gained new understanding, ideas and inspirations. It has created new possibilities for the inclusive employment of people with disabilities.
Family Group Exchange
Finally, Fei Liu, head of the Inclusion China parents’ group, shared with the families of several key employees of the Inclusion Factory the activities and experiences of parents in organising past activities. Through the exchange, the families learned the importance of family support groups, how they brought together families of different people with intellectual disabilities and enabled them to help each other grow together.
After the event, many of those who attended posted pictures on their WeChat Moments and wrote:
We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to realize their abilities，and to live a full participatory life.We look forward to seeing you next time.
Translation is supported by Inktale Shanghai
