Religious Orders at the Service of Disabled Brethren

Most monastic orders, thus especially those that operate kindergartens and various schools, help those with disabilities, especially children and youth. Their institutions also help integrate students who are able to attend majority schools. In these situations, religious orders strive to involve their experts and use personal care and attention in supporting integration, successful education, and an independent life.

In 1999, the Franciscan Order established the Autistic Care Centre in Gyöngyös to rectify a shortcoming in the country. The institution is maintained by the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Hungary. Uniquely in all of Hungary, the center provides complex aid to children and youth with autism, and the families raising them, using the complex, integrated work of a number of member institutions. They are currently assisting 45 families by providing education and live-in care for their autistic family member.

The Nest Day-time Care Centre for the Disabled was opened by the Premonstratensians in Biatorbágy in 2011. The building is suitable for housing 40 persons, with the more than 400 square metre area also containing a ceramics workshop. It presently cares for 36 persons, the majority of whom are multiply disabled; in addition to ceramics, the institute also offers various other tasks and therapies (musical therapy, physiotherapy, yoga, drama, and weaving).

The Camillians have established a similar institution in Nyíregyháza. The Saint Camilla Rehabilitation Centre opened to provide day-time care for disabled persons in 2004, caring for 25 people. Two years later, the center was expanded with a 13-bed live-in facility and a service center to help rehabilitate disabled persons. Since 2017, the development exercises have been provided by contracting 20 development experts and offering 5 people full-time employment.

In 2018 the Piarists established the Viewpoint Piarist Methodology Centre for Career Guidance and Labor Market Development in Vác. The objective of the institution is to provide career guidance and job placement support for youth with special educational needs or disabilities. In the course of this range of activities, it maintains relations with all actors involved in career guidance and the labor market, providing personalized services. Its methods include long-term personal mentoring, care in the network, thinking in terms of teams, and community development. Viewpoint also functions as a national methodological research and development center.