The Institute

About the Institute

We are a Civil Society Organization that works for the autonomy and independence of adults with intellectual disabilities and/or autism, focusing on housing for independent living and individualized support programs.

We started our journey 10 years ago, but even today, the transition to adult life for people with disabilities is a topic that is rarely discussed in civil society on public policy agendas. We act to raise awareness in society, public authorities, the market, investors and families that, with professional and individualized support, adults with disabilities can be protagonists of their lives, make their own choices and decisions, thus broadening their horizons. .

Adult and full life is made up of three axes: housing, work and socialization. For the JNG Institute, housing is a structuring factor in the trajectory of maturation and personal development, it is the foundation of adult life and the driver for the development of anyone’s individuation. In addition, housing for independent living is a right provided for in the UN Convention and the Brazilian Law of Inclusion.

The housing model for independent living provides a horizon of freedom and autonomy for people with intellectual disabilities and/or autistic, in addition to creating spaces for integration and exchanges, where social inclusion can be effectively experienced. We are talking about exercising citizenship.

Although consolidated in developed countries, it is still practically unknown in Brazil. Around here, unfortunately, the existing alternatives still refer us to the old-fashioned models in which people with disabilities are isolated, overprotected, often treated as sick, incapable and eternal children.

The JNG Institute is changing the lives of people with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 40, offering solutions so that they can leave their parents’ homes and live independently, as every young adult wants to do in their lives.

In Brazil, most of these people don’t even know that this is possible. Many families still confuse this movement with abandonment and the State itself believes that disability, like aging, is a family problem and not a public policy issue.

But the first house for independent living in the country is already a reality. The pilot project, started in November 2021, ends in November 2023, when we will have a model that can be replicated in different realities in the future.

Today, seven residents, aged between 27 and 32, live alone, each in their own apartment, living with neighbors without disabilities in the Uliving building, without isolation or segregation.

Learn more by clicking here

True social inclusion is when the community learns to naturally live with diversity. Inclusion is a two-way street, it is not enough for society to “accept” living with people with disabilities. The true meaning is when it opens spaces to integrate different people not out of compassion, but above all because it admits that it can learn from this coexistence and, in this way, enrich itself as humanity.

Mission

Promote the autonomy and independent life of adults with intellectual disabilities and/or with Autism Spectrum Disorder, enabling the experience of living alone to support their participation in society.

Vision

Enable and replicate the Housing model and the JNG Support Service throughout Brazil and all social classes, through real estate partnerships and public policies.

Value

Respect, Empathy, Solidarity, Generosity, Transparency, Anti-capacitism

Fronts of action

Real estate market

• Needs of people with disabilities from the design of the project
• Relationship with the neighborhood
• Integration and accessibility
• Articulation with occupational risk professionals
• Encouraging the use of assistive technologies
• Model “Buid To Suit” – BTS

Health and Education Professionals

• Assessment of skills
• Risk assessment
• Custom Support Program Design
• Support agent training
• Supervision and Evaluation

Public policy

• Regulation and application of the legal framework
• Advice and coordination between sectors (health, social assistance, transport) that facilitate the autonomous life of people with disabilities
• Problem solving in a participatory way, strengthening councils with civil society representatives

Families

• Modification of beliefs
• Education for autonomous living
• Fight for the rights of people with disabilities
• Advice on collective independent housing projects

History

The JNG Institute was founded in 2013 by the mothers of João, Nicolas and Gabriella, autistic young people who studied at the same school and inspired the name of the Institute. Worried about the future of their children, they shared concerns and anxieties regarding the transition to adulthood. They then decided to found the JNG Institute to promote the debate on the adult life of people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism, focusing on a topic that is little understood due to its complexity: understanding.

They studied and mapped housing for people with disabilities in Brazil and abroad. They mobilized the main actors involved with the inclusion of people with disabilities with the intention of debating this need and promoting public policies. Housing for independent living, although already consolidated in countries such as Israel, Holland, England and Spain, is still unknown in Brazil.

Like any innovative idea, it still faces resistance and distrust from families and professionals, mainly. It was then necessary to “put your hand in the dough”. At the end of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, we formed a pilot group with 16 families, parents and children aged 19 to 36, to discuss the possibility of launching the project with our own resources. In August 2021, four families accepted the challenge and we sealed a real estate partnership with ULiving. In November, Juliana, Manuela, Nicolas and Pedro moved in; Daniel and Eduardo arrived two months later to join the group of pioneer residents. Click here to see how the inauguration of the first house for independent living in Brazil was