An enclave consists of a small group of workers with disabilities who form a production unit within a regular business or industrial setting. The enclave includes a supervisor.

While an enclave operates within mainstream industry, the enclave workers remain employees of the sheltered agency and as such are exempt from industrial legislation applicable to all other award workers in South Australia.

The Ready, Willing and Able project undertook a series of interviews with a group of ten workers with intellectual disabilities from Orana sheltered workshops, now employed in an enclave situated within the Spare Parts and Accessories Warehouse at Mitsubishi Motors, Tonsley Park.

A contract awarded to Orana by Mitsubishi Motors to package small motor parts from bulk supplies to individual parts kits was, until recently, undertaken by these and other workers at Orana sheltered workshop sites.

A decision to establish an Orana enclave within Mitsubishi factory was undertaken in 1990 and approved by the Automotive and Metal Engineering Union (Vehicle Division) as a means of improving conditions for these workers and as an important step towards meaningful integration of workers with disabilities into the mainstream workforce.

The Union subsequently held meetings with the workers, their guardians and employers to establish the terms of this employment. A decision was reached to treat the enclave workers the same as all the other workers, including joining the union. During the fist, an elected representative from the enclave group met with the union and other workers every fortnight.

The following interviews with some of these enclave workers highlights issues of: integration within the mainstream workforce, union membership, wages, occupational health and safety, independence and attitudes of co-workers towards with a disability.