Associazione Italiana Persone Down (AIPD) - Pisa

The purpose of AIPD is to protect the rights of people with Down Syndrome (DS), to encourage full physical and mental development, contribute to their school placement and to their integration at all levels, to raise awareness about their actual ability to disclose knowledge about the syndrome. The not-for-profit "Italian Association of People with Down Syndrome" (AIPD) Pisa is one of the 43 sections of the National AIPD and is composed primarily of parents and people with this syndrome. The Association has in the Course of Education to Autonomy its core activity. Since 1998, we work on the routes of education and social autonomy, while our activities have expanded over time, involving not only teenagers, but also other age groups. We are addressed to: • children, with a project called "Play and learn" which is dedicated to their first steps into the world of youth; • young people, with the establishment of the "Leisure Agency", which is a container created to develop and promote the management of leisure time; • adults, with the group of Agency+, that meets the needs of adults with Down syndrome, while focusing on their time and their interests. Since 2003, we have also expanded the concept of autonomy: with the renovation of an apartment and the opening of "Casa Nostra" (Our Home), the Association started to work on weekends, on topics such as how to lead a life independently, how to manage a house, the collaboration and the sharing of spaces. A path targeted on autonomy housing was therefore conceived, with the important goal of starting to think a life autonomously and outside the family, namely the fundamental step that has to be taken "after the parents". The mission of the AIPD Pisa is to: •Intervene to give psychological support to family members from the first critical phase of the process of acceptance of a person with Down syndrome, while also giving extended and correct information, practical support, opportunities for interaction and exchange of information and experience; •Facilitate the necessary and fruitful inclusion of children with Down syndrome in schools at all levels; •Promote and organize any activities which promote the inclusion of all people with Down syndrome in society and in working context, also through the organization and the management of projects and vocational trainings for the development of personal autonomy; •Promote the creation of structures and services tailored to meet the needs of people with Down syndrome, including residential houses, by assuming, if necessary, direct management of the structures; •Create a network of advisors made up of doctors, health care, education and social experts who are sensitive and interested in the problems linked to Down syndrome, in order to achieve a better general care; •Increase effectiveness of operational tools linked with legislation and social security that is available to all people with Down syndrome.