Habitat for Humanity builds house for the intellectually disabled

The construction will have a surface of 170 sqm and is especially designed to fit the needs of the five beneficiaries. It will have five bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and two bathrooms with special equipment.
The project is financed by the Initiative for Mental Health of the Institute for an Open Society Budapest in partnership with the Timisoara local council, which has donated a plot of land of 2,755 sqm for a period of 49 years.
The project was initiated to demonstrate that people with severe intellectual disabilities can live among their fellow citizens without being segregated in institutions where they are often deprived of fundamental rights.
“Each person has the right to dignity and respect. The most painful obstacle that people with intellectual disabilities have to face is the prejudiced attitude of authorities in the system of social assistance who condemn them to isolation and refuse to give them a chance to live in the community together with their friends, relatives and neighbors. Imagine how you would feel if you had to live your entire life in a hospital, with no occupation, sharing the room with strangers whom you have not chosen, with no personal items and no privacy, without choosing what you eat or what you should wear. Nearly 20,000 people with disabilities live in this way today in Romania,” said Laila Onu, executive manager of the Pentru Voi Foundation.
Otilia Haraga