Thirty-three-year-old Dionysis-Nectarios Daloukas, plans to open up a restaurant in the Greek port city of Volos, Thessaly, and will be exclusively hiring disabled employees. He hopes that his outdoor restaurant, due to open its doors next May, will help build bridges for his city’s disabled people. Dionysis-Nectarios Daloukas, who suffered from a stroke at the young age of 18, decided to open a restaurant that gives disabled persons the opportunity to be productive. The stroke he suffered, left him with 80% disability, and at the same time, a great appetite to fight for a better life. Learning to cope with heart problems — that force him to live with a machine connected to his heart — he became acquainted with all the obstacles the disabled live with on a daily basis. Instead of allowing his disability drag him down, Dionysis found inspiration in creating a restaurant named ‘La Petite Cantine,’ an outdoor restaurant run exclusively by people with special needs in Volos, where he resides. The restaurant offers those with disabilities — who can and want to work — the opportunity to integrate themselves in the workforce. It is an innovative concept, not only for a small city in the Greek periphery, but in Greece in general. Although the idea of integrating disabled persons in society has been embraced throughout Europe, in Greece it has not been so. The country ratified most of the major international conventions in terms of access to education and employment for people with special needs and disabilities in 2009. “The idea is to develop a serious understanding of disabled people and support through employment as well. Our carefully developed plan is to start a business combining and establishing regular customers in our city who will enjoy quality food with fresh local products and offer work to people with special needs who face a myriad of barriers,” he said at an interview. Disabled people who can work and who want to work face many obstacles so we want to support their need to find employment,” he added.
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