Twentieth anniversary of Asociación San Juan, Adeje-based centre for the disabled

[Janet]

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I'm asked surprisingly often about how the mentally and physically disabled are helped in Tenerife. The answer, as in the UK, is of course that there are various levels of help which, in all practical senses, usually devolve onto the social services departments of local authorities. One such is the Adeje-based Asociación San Juan, a centre for curative education and social therapy which bases its educational programme on the Waldorf Method*, and which this year celebrates the 20th anniversary of its forming to improve the quality of life for people with physical and mental challenges.

Councillor with responsibility for people with special needs, Carmen Rosa González Cabrera, said that "the Asociación San Juan, along with the Los Olivos Centre for the Disabled are reference points for care and attention for people with different needs in the borough of Adeje and have contributed greatly to improving lives."

Fidel Ortega Dueñas, educative director of the centre, said that "the implantation of an education and a way of life which promotes human rights and a level of auto- determination, and the integration of individuals who need special assistance are ideals on which the work of the Asociación San Juan is based and in recent years in collaboration with the regional Canarian government we have been able to offer social and social-health services".

To mark the anniversary there will be a theatre performance of "El Principito" in the Adeje Cultural Centre at 7.30pm on Monday, 26 May. Entry is free.

*The Waldorf Method is one which stresses the role of the imagination in learning and places a strong value on integrating ntellectual, practical, and artistic themes, integrating family, learning and work into the cultural life of the person with learning difficulties or social challenges. It is a method which favours social, cultural and profession integration for adults who have developmental problems and who need special care. JA