Mariana is 30 years old and for a long time her future was uncertain. Intellectual and developmental difficulties seemed to cloud what lay ahead and cast doubt on her full place in society. But Semear came to prove that not everything is what it seems, especially when there is an appropriate response and structured support.

Today her professional résumé shows a path through Sea The Future – a restaurant in Parque das Nações – and the company Logoplaste, where she currently supports the meal service for all employees.

Mário is also a Semear student and is currently doing an internship at Cascais Hospital, helping in the canteen for patients. The jobs they both chose and embrace with dedication have made them look forward to new and higher goals.

Thus, on July 26th they got married, already with confidence and independence deeply rooted within them, as well as having achieved financial autonomy to live with dignity.

Mariana and Mário are success stories that reflect the mission of Semear, an organization whose goal is to provide training and later integrate people with intellectual and developmental difficulties into the labor market. So much so that they created yet another job opportunity with the opening, at the beginning of July, of Café Dibble in Cascais, once again proving that “everyone has a place.”

We spoke with Joana Santiago, President of Semear, who told us about the organization’s mission, the obstacles they encounter along the way, and the opening of the new space.

How did the sowing of inclusion begin?

The three social businesses that get students hands-on and change mindsets
The journey from training to autonomy
Attention to individual preferences is the key to happiness
Opening Dibble is the culmination of everything already done
The importance of working: Strengthening fragility
Companies become richer with inclusive hiring
Progress and delays still in Portugal
How to keep a nonprofit organization alive?
Children and disability
The daily construction of a legacy

How did the sowing of inclusion begin?

Smiling, with kindness evident in her voice, Joana Santiago began the interview by giving context, aware, perhaps, that the obstacles she has dealt with for years remain a blank page for those unaware of this reality:

“The big problem that exists when we have a child with a disability is ‘and now where do we turn? Who can help us?’ – in every aspect, whether health, education, or legal issues. Portugal has everything decentralized,” she said.

Faced with the scarcity of responses aimed at people with intellectual and developmental difficulties – and with a son who needed them – Joana felt the need to start knitting together solutions and initiatives.

This was the push that led her to create the Semear Academy, a certified training school with specific courses for this population “so they can gain personal, social, and later technical skills to integrate into the labor market,” she explained, highlighting the ultimate goal: inclusion through work and, consequently, participation in society.

Guiding, supporting, and tailoring training for a specific group proved essential. According to the President of Semear, in Portugal “there are vocational training courses adapted for people with disabilities, but they are for all disabilities in general, so they are not effectively adapted for this target group,” she said, adding: “disability is a whole world.”