Training to be a Service User
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RehabCare, Hollyhill, Cork
Digital Video
15 mins
2004

This project came about in response to a series of debates occuring at the time in RehabCare around the definition of work and identity for people with disabilities involved in Sheltered Workshops. A key concern hinges on what differentiates work activity from therapeutic activity? And what does the change in identity from 'trainee' to 'service user' mean for people involved in Sheltered Workshops?

Sheltered Workshops date back to 16th century France and in Ireland had a rapid expansion in the 1950's due to incentives by voluntary organisations to provide vocational training and employment for young people with mental disabilities. The legal status of activity in sheltered workshops is inherently problematic due to a conflict in its definition as work or therapy. As people received a small financial pay or allowance for their involvement in Sheltered Work activities, there are questions about the legal implications where workshops are “paying” people much less than the national minimum wage.

Project made with the participation of a group of people working in the General Industrial (GI) sheltered workshop in RehabCare in Hollyhill Cork. Questions around issues of work and identity for people with disabilities are explored within the context of the past and future direction of Sheltered Workshops in RehabCare.

Four years after the making of this project in December 2008, Sheltered Workshops closed in all RehabCare centers in Ireland and Europe. For information about a follow on project made after the closures visit dreamWorkers made in 2009.

This project features in an article by Sheelagh Broderick titled Arts practice in unreasonable doubt? Reflections on understandings of arts practices in healthcare contexts, 2011 View full text.
Case study information on CREATE website click here.

Project funded by the Arts Council Artist in the Community Scheme, managed by CREATE.