Agnieszka Wojnarowska

The theatre as a workplace for adults with Down syndrome – the emancipatory potential of the vocational activation project “Przystanek Szekspir” (“The Shakespeare Station”)

States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others” (Article 27 of the CRPD). Improving emancipation of persons with disabilities combined with recognizing and promoting of their rights to human living constitutes a basis to reconstruct the social policy model. The concept of emancipatory policy, life policy and policy of choice that have emerged, enables persons with disabilities gain more autonomy and eventually to pursue one’s life projects (Giddens, 2010). One of the postulates of emancipatory policy is to guarantee access to the labor market, employment or work as well as to eliminate or reduce any disparities. In Poland, despite active labor policies and encouragement for employers, nearly 60% of adults with disabilities are unemployed, even though only a small percentage of them are people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of the paper is to present the preliminary findings of qualitative research related to the innovative project of vocational activation of persons with Down   Syndrome, run by Foundation “Ja Te¿” in collaboration with the University of Gdańsk. The “Przystanek Szekspir” project has been launched to aim at overcoming outdated stereotypes of persons with Down syndrome and to supporting individual autonomy and freedom to make their own choices.Within the project, young adults have been trained and then have found employment employed in the Audience Services in the GdańskShakespeare Theatre. Apart from presenting the assumptions, aims and project’s execution, the authors discuss the findings of the research, the objective of which was to answer the following questions: What experiences and individual/personal meanings ascribed to work/ working emerge from narratives of persons with Down syndrome? How do the audience and workers perceive the work of persons with Down syndrome in the theatre?