Innovative Italian and Australian Approaches
Reprinted from https://www.uts.edu.au/about/uts-business-school/management/news/opening-doors-how-make-hospitality-jobs-truly-inclusive 
Hotel Albergo Etico staff receive integrated life skills
and vocational training. Photo: Supplied
The Albergo Etico in Italy is a hotel
with a difference: sprouting from the desire of a group of friends to help one
young man find a placement, today the hotel is staffed by people with Down
Syndrome training in all facets of the hospitality business.
The hotel is owned and operated by the "Download Albergo
Etico" Project, an integrated life skills and employment project for
people with Down Syndrome that is garnering interest internationally, including
in Australia.
“We aim to make people with Down Syndrome the real protagonists
of their working life,” the project’s Chair Alex Toselli says. “I believe
people with disabilities must have the same rights to dream, to make money, to
drive a car,” he told a recent seminar at UTS Business School.
As well as being paid industry-standard wages, the hotel staff
receive integrated life skills and vocational training so they gain a level of
independence they can carry with them throughout their lives and careers.
Toselli is now working with groups in Australia, Argentina,
Finland, Norway and Slovakia interested in the concept.
'I believe people with disabilities
must have the same rights to dream'
Consultant and former Executive Director of Down Syndrome NSW Tracylee Arestides – who experienced Hotel Etico first-hand last year – recently established Project Etico Australia and is working closely with Toselli on the goal of setting up a hotel here.
“We’ve had a tremendous response across the sector to the whole
working, living, learning concept embodied by Project Etico,” says Arestides, a
UTS alumna.
The success of Albergo Etico is largely due to the positive
attitudes of, and relationships formed with, the business, hospitality and
tourism industries, as well as the local community, Toselli told the
“Ospitalità or HospitABLE” seminar at the University of Technology Sydney.
But continued innovation in the hospitality, education and
tourism sectors is needed to ensure sustainable and inclusive employment
becomes widespread globally, he says.
Debbie and Brendon Coombes have been running a
Livvi's Cafe in Blacktown, Sydney. Photo:
Supplied
Australia ranks 21st out of 29 OECD countries
when it comes to employment of people with a disability, says Professor Simon
Darcy of UTS Business School. Among those of working age, more than half are
either officially registered as unemployed or counted as not participating in
the labour force.
Discrimination in employment based on disability is a
significant issue, as identified in a recent analysis of Australian Human
Rights Commission complaints, he says.
Further, due to the history of “sheltered workshops” in Australia,
underpayment remains a big problem, along with the amount of time spent looking
for work, which is significantly higher among people with disabilities than the
non-disabled.
“But we know there are innovative ways to connect training,
employment and inclusive approaches to organisational practice and we want to
show that people with disability can make long-term and sustainable
contributions to Australia economically and socially,” Professor Darcy says.
Australian businesses that do employ people with a
disability report greater productivity and higher staff morale.
That’s clearly an opportunity for the hospitality industry,
where high staff turnover compromises customer service and sustainability, the
seminar heard.
'Australian businesses that do employ
people with a disability report greater
roductivity and higher staff morale'
Social enterprise Livvi’s Café is another group trying to change the employment statistics for people with a disability.
As a social enterprise, Livvi’s Café – an offshoot of the
not-for-profit organisation Touched By Olivia – operates under a
business model where profits are generated but with the aim of funding social
good.
The initial idea of the café chain was to create safe and
inclusive play spaces for children with disabilities, founded on the principle
that “every child has a right to play”. But the goals soon expanded to include
providing employment opportunities for young people with disabilities.
Chief Executive Bec Ho says the move into cafés two years ago
was well received by the community – people were more than happy to wait a
little longer for a coffee – and the project is improving the wellbeing and
confidence of its young employees.
Aviva Redmond, who works as a service provider with service
provider LifeStart and has a close family member with a
disability, is excited to see projects like Download Albergo Etico and Livvi’s
Café. “It’s really fantastic to see truly inclusive workplaces – workplaces
that actually just treat people with disabilities like everyone else and pay
them a fair wage,” she says.
Louise Geaghan from Willoughby Council says there’s still a lot
of work to be done in Australia but the National Disability Insurance Scheme
means Australia is on the cusp of a new world of choice and opportunity.
“As we move away from people with disabilities being in
institutions or staying with their family for all of their lives, then we all
start to think about them having those needs just like all of us do – and I
think that’s really good,” she says.
Byline:
Viki Gerova and Lesley
Parker
