Since she was little, housewife Valdirene Faria Queiroz believed that she would not be able to learn how to crochet because of her visual impairment.
"I already wanted to, yes. I was always curious to learn. But, due to my visual impairment, I thought it was impossible."
Valdirene was one of the first students with disabilities at the Social and Professional Qualification Center in Ribeirão Preto (SP) and says that the opportunity to learn crochet arose after a friend, who already knew about the project, commented on the course.
She had never picked up a needle and today, four months later, she is already producing rugs of different shapes. Some pieces have already been sold.
The activity, which initially aimed to be therapy and a way to spend time, also began to represent a possibility of income.
"It was satisfying to know that it was possible. I liked it so much that today I can imagine myself doing it as a source of income. It was therapeutic too, because that was the main reason, to have something to do as therapy, to help emotionally, to pass the time, in my leisure time."
Valdirene knitting only by touch — Photo: Reproduction/EPTV
'I don't like sitting still'
The story of student Jaqueline Ferreira de Oliveira is also marked by overcoming. Housewife and mother of a 3-year-old girl, she was born with spastic diparetic cerebral palsy, a condition that causes stiffness, mainly in the legs.
Due to her disability, Jaqueline feels tired and needs to walk with assistance. Even so, she says she doesn't accept standing still and this motivated her to take the course.
"Despite my disability, I don't like sitting still. My daughter is 3 years old and she doesn't sit still. I said 'My God, how can I go after this girl? I can't sit still. I have to do something with my life'. So I went and did it."
Jaqueline started with crafts and then moved on to cooking. In class, he learned how to use different utensils and ingredients and, at home, he started to put what he learned into practice.
"Everything that's in the fridge, 'let's use it, let's invent it'. I learned how to make bread, then I made it and my daughter loved it. Every time she asks for it and then she wants to make it too."
Jaqueline learning to make esfihas during class — Photo: Reproduction/EPTV
Pride and overcoming
Jaqueline says that, at first, she was worried about the difficulty in moving during kitchen activities, but she feels proud of having accepted the challenge.
"My life is full of challenges and I'm proud of myself, because I didn't stop. After everything I've been through, I didn't stop, I continued. That's what moves me."
For Valdirene, the main message for those who are still afraid to try is to know that it is possible.
"You just need to have willpower and willingness to accept the challenge. Society itself has difficulty imposing limitations and we end up creating these limitations in our minds. So, knowing that it is possible to achieve it is wonderful."
Valdirene knitting only by touch — Photo: Reproduction/EPTV
Courses for people with disabilities
The two are part of a group that is still small at the Social and Professional Qualification Center. According to the institution's manager, Amarelo Júnior, the demand for courses from people with disabilities is low.
"The demand for our courses is still very resistant and we have not yet found a way to explain why this happens. We can imagine that it is the personal resistance of these people. But the qualification center is open to receive these people on our courses".
The center offers different activities and seeks to adapt classes according to the needs of each student. The teacher accompanies the student during the activities and, in some cases, the colleagues themselves also help.
Among the activities that can accommodate students with different needs are cooking, crochet, makeup, manicure and eyebrows.
But the professor highlights that not all courses can be adapted for all types of disabilities.
"There are courses, for example, like haircutting, which is a course that we were unable to adapt. But courses like cooking and crochet we had PWD students here who developed their crafts exceptionally well."
According to the coordination, registrations are made exclusively through the official website of the Ribeirão Digital Portal. There you can see the list of available courses, which can change according to each registration period.
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