Jéssica Pereira da Silva, 31, dreamed of opening a restaurant. The idea, however, was consolidated with Bellatucci Café, located in Pinheiros, in the capital of São Paulo. In this way, she became the first entrepreneur with Down syndrome to formalize in Brazil. This Tuesday (21) is World Down Syndrome Day. The date has been recognized by the United Nations (UN) since 2012 and refers to the three chromosomes in pair 21, which characterize the genetic condition. “My dream was to open a restaurant, but my sister and my mother said that a restaurant was too difficult and we decided to open a cafe. Coffee changed my life. I stayed at home a lot, watched a lot of television. Now I get home at 7 pm, I work from Monday to Saturday”, said Jessica. The taste for cooking came from watching her own mother and she became a profession with the Gastronomy Technician course at the National Service of Commercial Learning (Senac). Already graduated, Jessica was sure that she wanted to have a venture in the food industry. On social networks, Jessica tells her routine at the cafe “I liked to see my mother messing with the pans, the knives and I started helping to set the table, making juice, dessert, salad and then I fell in love”, she said. In the cafeteria, Jessica serves sweets, pies and coffee. “I make pot cake, brigadeiro, honey bread, crepe. We cook every day, we sell everything fresh and we work together, my whole family helps me with the coffee”. Barista Philippe Tavares, 31, works at Bellatucci Café, an inclusive coffee shop. Photo: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil Other people with Down syndrome work there, including Philippe Tavares, 31, the barista. “He was my friend and he’s a barista here. And now, my boyfriend”, revealed Jessica. The young man took a barista and waiter course. “I love being here. I’m a barista and I make coffees, cappuccino, mocha coffee. I’m a show barista. I met Jessica at Apae, when I was 6 years old. Now, she is my girlfriend”, he said proudly. Confidence Jéssica’s mother, Ivânia Della Bella da Silva, is one of the facilitators of the undertaking and is with the coffee workers every day. She does the training and monitors them, in addition to overcoming setbacks and distrust from customers. “The obstacles we encounter, how to give people the confidence they should have in hiring the service is hard. It is a work of persistence, but true”. In addition to serving coffee on site, the cafeteria also holds business events, offering coffee breaks and cocktails. “Since she was little, Jessica showed signs that she wanted to work with food. She took a technical course in gastronomy and started to like it a lot, looking for recipes, so she wanted to open a restaurant. We suggested opening a cafe and she was super happy,” she said. Jessica’s sister, Priscila, along with her husband, Douglas Batetucci, invested in the space. With the pandemic, Café changed places. Now, it works attached to Restaurante Como Assim?!, whose owner, a social investor, supported Jéssica’s social impact venture. “The whole family helps and we don’t want to stop, we want to see the result of it, which is being very nice”. Ivânia advises fathers and mothers to encourage and stimulate children with Down syndrome. Her expectation is that, in this way, society will become more welcoming and learn to live better with different people. “Our young children are paving the way for these babies [pessoas com Down] with a range of possibilities. I wish that mothers encourage their children and let them be whatever they want because they can, just trust them. If he likes something, work on it and he’ll work out and believe it. I have live experience and I hope that one day society stops talking about inclusion and talks only about coexistence, that we know how to live with those who are different”, argued Ivânia. Barriers Jessica’s venture is an example of the capacity of people with Down syndrome. However, entering the job market still faces difficulties, explained psychologist Paula Cardoso Tedeschi, who works at the Down Syndrome Foundation, based in Campinas (SP). “The barriers are some stigmas and prejudices, an over-infantilization of people. So there are physical, attitudinal and communicational barriers that hinder inclusion. It is these prejudices of imagining that [a pessoa com Down] can’t do it and that it doesn’t have the capacity”, he said. For the psychologist, changes in the attitudes of colleagues and leaders of organizations can improve the inclusion of people with Down in the job market. “It is necessary to change this very childish look, of imagining that the co-worker is a child, of not viewing him as an adult person who has his rights and duties. He is a person who is there to do a kind of service and the attitude of the colleague or leader should be to support him as well as all employees. There are issues in which adaptations are necessary, but these issues do not prevent this person from being treated as a worker, who has schedules, duties and rights, just like the others, “she said. The Down Syndrome Foundation has offered, since 1999, the Training and Inclusion Service in the Labor Market. https://www.fsdown.org.br/o-que-fazemos/formacao-e-inclusao-no-mercado-de-trabalho/ The course consists of four programs: Initiation to Work, Professional Practice Experience, CLT Hiring and Labor Partner. “This service is offered to people with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities through the Unified Health Service (SUS). Families can look for health centers, which forward to the foundation”, explains the psychologist. Legislation Hiring this public is provided for in the Law of Quotas for Persons with Disabilities (8.213/91). The legislation determines that the company with 100 and 200 employees is obliged to fill 2% of its positions with people with disabilities. Companies with 201 to 500 are 3%; from 501 to 1000, it’s 4% and from 1001 onwards it’s 5%. The fine for non-compliance can reach more than R$ 200,000. The Statute of Persons with Disabilities prohibits restrictions on the work of people with disabilities and any discrimination based on their condition, including in the stages of recruitment, selection, hiring, admission, admission and periodic examinations, permanence in employment, professional advancement and rehabilitation. professional, as well as requirement of full aptitude. In the psychologist’s opinion, it is necessary for society and companies to be more inclusive so that people with Down actually have opportunities. “From the architectural issue for adaptation and mobility to information issues for changes in attitudinal barriers. Companies also need to be more willing to know, to have experiences, so that we have more possibilities for inclusion, including career plans in companies. It takes a series of changes for a work to be truly inclusive”, said Paula. Inclusion In the view of the founder of the NGO Nosso Olhar, Thaissa Alvarenga, the socialization and inclusion of these individuals must be worked on from the family cradle to adulthood. And those who live with it should also learn more about people with Down. “In Brazil, we have the Quota Law. However, for many people, this reality is still distant. People without disabilities must also be willing to learn so that diversity is put into practice, so that inclusion can actually be worked on in all environments. We must promote and guide. For inclusion to happen, we must mobilize the public and private sectors, together with the third sector”, she evaluated. Thaissa works to guarantee training, insertion in the job market, financial independence and autonomy for people with disabilities and is responsible for the content portal Chico e Suas Marias and Espaço Rede T21.
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