An arts-crafts diploma for visually challenged youths

« A handicapped child is often a prey to self-doubts. Structures like the IJA Les Charmettes help to dispel them.
To give a youth the keys to open the doors to his future, to give him self-confidence, to erase the burdensome and negative image he has of himself, means encouraging him to win a battle against his handicap. »

Julie Chavaribeyre

At Yzeure, in the Allier district, the Institut pour Jeunes Aveugles (IJA) "Les Charmettes" accommodates thirty visually handicapped children aged from 1 to 20, as boarders or day students.
The institute is dedicated to providing them with the necessary means to build a valid life through activities adapted to their handicaps and to their age.
For the eldest, this accordingly means a preliminary vocational training section enabling them to earn a CAP vocational training diploma in straw/cane-bottoming - a discipline registered as an "art-craft" by the French Chamber of Crafts.

A necessary renovation

This being said, the IJA's work has been put into question today because of the obsolescence of the premises - and particularly those of the technical center.
In order to aid the Charmettes Blind Protection Association, the owner of the premises, the Veolia Foundation has decided to participate in refurnishing its workshops. The aid granted will help finance new equipment, such as baggers and dust removers, a suction table, a planing-sanding machine, a saw/molding machine, new workbenches, etc. These indispensable tools will help upgrade the workshops to conform to the current safety standards so that the National Education Ministry can continue to recognize the training dispensed at Charmettes as "qualifying".
This is an important prerequisite to ensure that the visually handicapped youths will be able to build a solid professional future.