Restaurant bid to integrate mentally-challenged into mainstream
rabat — In a country where nearly half of people with mental disabilities are unemployed, one restaurant in the Moroccan capital is part of a pilot project tackling the problem.
When a customer enters the Hadaf restaurant in the capital’s business district, nothing indicates that many of the staff are disabled in any way.
The restaurant is part of the Hadaf Centre — Hadaf means “goal” in Arabic — that was established 20 years ago by a group of parents and friends of people dealing with mental disabilities.
Take Amr, an enthusiastic 28-year-old in a crisp white shirt and black trousers.
He scouts the street for prospective clients as front of house staff add vases as the finishing touches to tables. “I first learnt in the canteen,” Amr said.
“Now I take orders from customers in the restaurant — I like the contact with them, getting to know each other,” he added. The experiment was launched by a local association created by parents to shake up prejudices and serve as a springboard for young people with mental disabilities.
The jobless rate for such people is 47.65 per cent, four times the average in a country which has 2.3 million disabled, according to a study published last year by the families ministry.
Soumia Amrani is on the board of a human rights group and the co-chair of a disability-focused collective. She believes the battle to integrate must begin at an early age. Morocco’s 2011 constitution says those with disabilities should be able to “integrate and rehabilitate into civil life”.
But things are different in reality. Just 41.8 per cent of disabled youngsters aged between six and 17 go to school, and in the six to 11 range that figure falls to 37.8 per cent. Another indicator that there is a problem is that a third of homeless people suffer from some form of disability. The Hadaf Centre also has a guest house that provides some income and gives the young people the chance to socialise, said Mesfer.—