Belgium/This Brussels restaurant works with mentally handicapped people, and it's a real success!
In Ixelles, the "65 degrés" restaurant is surprising, but not only for the quality of its gourmet cuisine. Behind the doors of 173 Avenue Louise, you'll find not only top-quality cuisine, but also a fine social project: to enable people with mental disabilities to work on a day-to-day basis and become emancipated. Interview.
Every morning, Anne-Sophie Lamarche gets ready in a good mood. Since 2018, she has been working in one of the rare Brussels restaurants that values her professional qualities without worrying about her disability. A small revolution that has changed her life: "I've learned a lot here at '65 Degrees' and I'm really enjoying the experience. It's a joyful, good-humored place. We laugh and laugh. It's great to open the restaurant to people with disabilities, which is rare these days. It's extraordinary. I'm very happy because it's really interesting," explains the 37-year-old waitress.
As well as a gourmet restaurant, "65 degrés" is above all an ASBL set up by 4 entrepreneurs to promote the professional integration of people with mental disabilities. On a day-to-day basis, the restaurant is run by a chef and a head waiter. It employs 11 young people with mild to moderate mental disabilities.
"If people were taken into society for the good they can do or the good they can contribute, we'd already be doing a lot better. It's also a loss for society when you see what these people can bring to their jobs," explains Valentin Cogels, one of the founders of the Brussels restaurant.
At this gourmet restaurant, customers particularly appreciate the quality of the service and the friendliness of the staff. It's important to come here," says Anne-Sophie, "because there's so much love and joy to give. And with a smile. And I know that what's important here at the restaurant is everyone's smile.
In Belgium, over 10,000 people are carriers of Down's syndrome. And yet, their presence in society is very limited.
Source: www.rtbf.be
