Zug,25.04.2017

Insieme Cerebral

The Insieme Cerebral has achieved much over the years to help people with mental and physical handicaps play their role in society and become more accepted by the public as a whole.
 
The organisation’s history actually dates back to 1967, when the Zug Association of Parents and Friends of Handicapped People (ZVEFB) was founded and a workshop for handicapped people set up on Aegeristrasse. In fact the organisation was also a driving force behind the setting up of the Zuwebe organisation, which helps people with disabilities in so many ways, not least in finding employment for them. Then holiday camps for disabled young people and adults were also organised. The ZVEFB changed its name to Insieme Cerebral in 2003 and since this time it has continued to extend the range of activities it offers, including the care of pre-school-age children with special needs.
 
The organisation’s current premises are at number 5 Fabrikstrasse in Cham, on the site of the former paper factory there. Oddly enough, they are not that accessible for people with physical disabilities, situated on the second floor with the lift currently not working. However, there is a goods lift which can accommodate wheelchairs, though this has to be operated by hand. As the managing director of the Zug Insieme Cerebral (ICZ) organisation, Barbara Camenzind (on the right in the photograph), explained, they are on the look-out for new premises, ideally somewhere more central, but they also have to be affordable, of course.
 
At present, there are 320 members of the ICZ association, made up of those who are themselves disabled in some way, along with their relations and friends. One has only to look at their homepage, www.insieme-cerebral.ch) to see all the activities and events such as holiday weeks and educational courses they organise, and not least in providing parents of disabled people with a much needed break from looking after a disabled children day-in, day-out. Lectures are also arranged for parents, who equally enjoy coming together to share their experiences with others in the same situation.
 
As Marlies Sager, the chairwoman designate of the ICZ (on the left in the photograph), explained, the organisation aims to ensure the right framework is in place at cantonal level in order that the disabled can play their part in the community as much as able-bodied people, by which she is not just referring to barrier-free access to buildings but also disabled people becoming more accepted in society.
 
With a disabled daughter herself, Marlies Sager knows only too well what needs these people have, while encouraging them at the same time play a bigger role themselves and increase their self-reliance.
 
As referred to in a previous article, with the support of the cantonal government, the Cantonal Office of Social Services set up a project earlier this year to improve the situation for people with disabilities in Zug, aiming to promote their independence and individual responsibility, too. Sager was delighted with this development, helping, as it does, people with disabilities to integrate better into society. She mentioned how much the organisation relies on voluntary help to do all it does. “Without this support, in both time and financial terms, not so much would happen,” added Camenzind, as she added how the activities organised are very popular and very much appreciated by all who take part. For example, Marlies Sager’s daughter, Chantal (in the centre in the photograph) has been particularly proud, and rightly so, of the progress she has made in learning English at the Education Club. “This means I can understand and express myself much better when I am on holiday,” she said. Not only is she happy with this course and the holidays she can go on, she enjoys her work in catering though the Zuwebe organisation, sometimes helping out at the restaurant at the Zug Tile Museum in Cham. When not working, there is nothing more she enjoys than taking her dog on walks around Cham and to listening to groovy music.
 
A special charity concert was held in the Lorzensaal in Cham on Saturday to mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the setting-up of ICZ.