The Aura Foundation is a non-profit organization was founded in October 1989.
It pioneered the «Supported Employment» program in Spain by implementing and developing its’ methodology .
The Aura Foundation aims to improve the quality of life of people with intellectual disability by helping to integrate them into society and find them employment using the «Supported Employment» model.
.Aura was created with the main purpose to provide a distinctive opportunity, a new formula towards the “normalisation” making its first move of integration at different stages of school and promoting then newly adopted law 12/1982. L.I.S.M.I that stated in article 1 the following:
“The primary purpose of the employment policy for workers with disabilities shall be their integration into the regular employment system or, if this may not be possible, their incorporation into the productive system by providing a special formula of sheltered employment”
AURA was a pioneer in the country and in Europein applying the methodology of “Supported Employment” which was developed in the United States towards the end of the 70’s under the same name (“Supported Employment”). It represented a qualitative leap forward towards the recognition of the rights and the improvement of the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. Using this methodology, AURA opened up for many people the opportunity to work in the open market environment providing personalised support. According to the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy the name Aura means “peaceful and favourable light wind”. The choice of the name might have attracted a number of favourable events as they have regularly accompanied the Foundation throughout its history.
Today there are 290 participants with intellectual disabilities who are working as employees at prestigious well-established companies.
Disseminating the methodology of “Supported Employment” is one of the objectives of the Aura Foundation. For this reason, AURA has been a member and founder of the Spanish association AESE, the European association EUSE and the Catalan association ACTAS.