by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 28/97) - Yellowknifers with severe learning disabilities could be training for the trades or self-employment by the New Year.

Organizers hope to begin the new program with two people and expand it into a three-year enterprise that could train as many as 50 people.

"There are people (in Yellowknife) who are extremely skilful, but they learn so differently that they are unable to learn through traditional methods," says Beulah Philpott, one member of the committee organizing the vocational trades centre, which will operate out of a moth-balled government garage near St. Patrick high school.

As an example, she points to a person in the community who is skilled with tools as a carpenter but suffers from dyslexia, and is unable to read blueprints or follow a textbook.

That person could get one-on-one training from a carpenter, who would be paid by the centre, and at the end of a six-week course the person could be proficient enough to work as a trades helper on a construction site or operate a small business.

"If you have ever tried to get a small woodworking job done here, you know that kind of service is needed," she said.

"You could have someone even doing small jobs, like skirting trailers."

Other people with learning disorders have talents in areas such as computers or art and only require training in things like marketing.

Candidates for the program are those who have gone through the special-education programs in local schools and who may have been in the job market before becoming frustrated.

The committee organizing the project expects to need a budget of about $225,000 for the three-tier project and has already begun approaching community groups and government departments seeking the money.

The biggest cost will be paying for instructors and students, the latter of whom will receive a stipend of $175 a month for their training period. A co-ordinator for the entire program will be hired shortly.

Philpott said those who complete the program could work on construction projects as helpers, start their own businesses or set up shop in an area of the garage where the training takes place.

"Some of the people who will enter the program will make very good trades helpers," says Linda Henry, another member of the organizing committee.