The focus of VIVACE is on learners who have been excluded from language learning in the past for reasons of disadvantage.  But how do we define ‘disadvantage’?  And how has the definition guided VIVACE partners in the choice of target groups?

VIVACE has no rigid definition of disadvantage.  Indeed, we have learned that the understanding of disadvantage may vary from one culture to another and that disadvantage may be interpreted in a variety of ways.  Sometimes, it may be hidden from view.

VIVACE works with people who, generally speaking, only speak their own language and this is, in itself, a disadvantage.  Research has shown that people who do speak more than one language do not:

• Come from lower social groups
• Live in deprived circumstances 
• Have a learning or physical disability
• Live in a remote region
• Have good educational opportunities.

The target groups VIVACE partners have worked with fall into one or more of these categories.  Thus, partners in the project have worked with the socially marginalised or excluded, with people suffering severe brain injuries, adults with learning difficulties, people with physical disabilities, with mental health problems, with recovering addicts and with groups of people who have never had the experience of language learning because of their socio-economic background or their geographical location.  Our main aim has been to demonstrate the enriching and empowering impact of a language learning experience for all these different groups of people, whatever their circumstances.  

 Our target groups have included:

• Youngsters (aged 16+) who have been expelled or excluded from mainstream education.  They have often been physically or sexually abused, and usually live alone or in a one-parent family in a deprived inner-city area. Educational problems may include a short attention span, disruptive behaviour, limited linguistic skills in their native language, poor to nil academic performance, lack of interest and motivation.
• Brain-damaged adults, either following an accident, or from birth, because of aneurisms, or other conditions.  Three VIVACE partners worked with adults with brain injuries; some of the learners also had other physical or mental disabilities.
• Physically and/or mentally disabled youngsters and adults, suffering from cerebral palsy, ADD, ADHD, epilepsy, congenital heart disease and urinary incontinence. Families were also included in this project.
• Unemployed young people (18+) living in a deprived and isolated area with one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country concerned
• Young drug-addicts and recovering addicts in rehabilitation programmes.
• Adults suffering from mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, anxiety and nervous disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome, personality disorder and behavioural problems
• Financially deprived, usually one-parent, families where the other parent has emigrated in search of employment.
• Inter-generational groups (grandparents/grandchildren; parents/children) in economically and socially deprived areas with high unemployment, scarce job opportunities and low life expectations