Moving towards a more inclusive society

Jarlam Chen wrote the Master thesis: "Moving towards a more inclusive society. An analysis of the value of Helicon's "Client College" for people with a disability in Geldermalsen, the Netherlands". 

Short summary:

It is suggested that tools should be devised to increase self­efficacy amongst people with a disability, in order to increase their participation in societal events. One of such a tool is Client College, a project set up by the municipality of Geldermalsen in the Netherlands, in cooperation with DSiN and executed by the school Helicon Geldermalsen. The Client College was devised to promote participation of people with a disability, hereafter called clients, in societal events. It has to be noted that all the clients from this study had Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in common.

The design of the Client College is an extension of the regular classes that students of Helicon Geldermalsen follow. The Client College concept started in 2015 and is to be continued in 2016 at four locations. Helicon scheduled four Client Colleges for 2016, and found four companies willing and able to facilitate these Client Colleges. Despite that the Client College was continued in 2016, little is known about how participating clients experience Client College. Moreover, how Client Colleges contribute to the self­efficacy of clients. Therefore, the main research question that was addressed in this study was: How does the Client College of 2016 contribute to the self­efficacy of participating clients?