The Advancement to Independence through Motivation (AIM) centre protected workshop for the physically disabled was established in 1986 at the Avalon Home for the Disabled in Kensington.
The centre raised money and was later able to move to its own place in 1997 and is now situated at 79 Orion Street in Kensington.
The centre provides a safe working environment for the physically disabled, allows work activities, skills training and personal development for the physically disabled.
“The centre gives the physical disabled the chance to do something and even earn an income. We always tell friends and relatives that people come here to work and development themselves and get paid,” said the centre manager, Ms Bernice Michalac.
The workshop provides a number of services to companies. They do packing, product assembly and product labelling.
This is done daily on a contract basis.
“The contract work is one of our sources of income to pay participants for the work they do and to keep the workshop going.”
Aim provides a protective workshop environment, which is required in order to include participants with various disabilities.
“We take participants who have epilepsy, learning disabilities, are paraplegic, have polio, are hemiplegic, accident victims and those suffering from arthritis,” said Ms Bernice.
AIM is a self-sustained centre.
“We have handmade products for sale at our second-hand shop at Darras Centre. We sell clothes donated by people and by companies. The shop has been able to raise much-needed funds and most importantly, has created a network for us to make new friends to help the centre,” said Bernice.
Participants are well-taken care of at the centre and receive physiotherapy twice a week, attend art classes and literacy classes, and receive one meal a day as they are there from 7am to 3pm.
“Participants are assessed according to their motivation to attend, their ability to perform some of the basic work tasks, ability to move and use the toilet independently. We look at the centre’s ability to help participants meet their own particular challenges,” said Bernice.
Future fundraising initiatives include a beanie project for the winter season and a sewing project, which will specifically deal with women who are disabled as a result of abuse.
“Abuse is one of the major problems in our communities. There are a number of women who are disabled from abuse and we want them to claim back their lives. Abuse does not have to be visible. It goes deeper and it can disable a person and as AIM, we want to help them by giving these women three month’s training in sewing with the hope that they can start their own business. We are determined to empower women who are disabled because of abuse,” said Bernice.
