Centre Recreatiu i Cultural de persones Sordes (CERECUSOR)
Hello! We are CERECUSOR, the Association of Deaf people in Barcelona (Centre Recreatiu i Cultural de Persones Sordes de Barcelona). Our board of directors has a total of ten volunteer associate members. When it was founded in 1941, it was a delegation of the National Catholic Action of deaf-mute (Acción Católica Nacional de Sordomudos), until 1971 when this name was replaced by the current one, CERECUSOR.
To this day, there have been different names and presidents in the association. In 1941 until 1971, during the old stage of Catholic Action, there were a total of 9 presidents. The last president of Catholic Action was the first to hold the position in CERECUSOR. Regarding the presidency of the association, CERECUSOR has had a total of 15 presidents. In total, we have had three women holding this position, the first, for a year; the second, for more than three and a half years, and the third, is the current president, Encarna Muñoz.
The objectives of our association are diverse; we work to promote cultural activities such as theatre or cinema. We organize training sessions, talks and outings to nature since the beginning of the association. However, depending on the time, the activities have varied or have focused on some specific aspects. Even now we continue to promote these activities, theatre, although less and less, and cinema, above all. We also do many more talks, which are held on Thursdays. Back them, at the time of the Catholic Action they were already organized, but they were on Saturdays. Likewise, we organize leisure activities, such as Ludo game, and sports, although there is a sports group within the association, which was formed in the 1970s or 1980s.
Recently, in 2017, we created the first accessibility service within an association for the first time in Catalonia, which includes both mediators and interpreters. The Federation of Deaf People of Catalonia, FESOCA, was in charge of managing and coordinating all these services, but there was very little budget and given the crisis situation, it was decided to create this service within CERECUSOR, thanks to the collaboration of the Barcelona City Council. We receive much less help but the operation of the service is quite optimal.
We offer a range of training workshops on different topics, on Catalan Sign Language, writing and proofreading, reading comprehension, among many others. We organize our workshops according to the interests and needs of our members.
Last but not least, I would like to tell you about four more things. First, every year we always have a carnival party for the little ones, as well as celebrate Christmas, in which the children’s parents also participate, whether they are hearing or Deaf. Second, few young people participate in the association compared to the past. They come sporadically, perhaps twice a year, but they bring a lot of life and activity to the association in a timely manner. It is very different from before, in which young people participated in the association in a stable and continuous way. Now, on the other hand, they are more independent and new technologies also mean that they are not so present. Although they are partners, many travel or live abroad, such as the Netherlands or Germany, and are quite disconnected. Third, the senior age group is very important and is growing. They are very active and organize outings to the mountains or guided tours on weekdays, especially Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fourth, if a member of the senior group does not know much about computers, he can come to the association so that we can help him. If not, we can go ourselves.
ADDRESS: C. de Nàpols, 338, local 4
08025-Barcelona
FUNDATION: 1941