Summary:

• Total teachers trained on inclusive education: 478

• Who came from 98 schools across 6 districts of Gilgit- Baltistan

• A Training Needs Assessment was completed to understand attitudes and perceptions towards disability and inclusive education in Gilgit Baltistan

•  Local Level Institutions (including school management committees) were also trained on the same subject

• Community awareness events were held across the region to introduce the concept of Inclusive

Artpreneurs for Change (AfC) wrapped up Round 1 on June 2^nd (Pathways British School, Special Children School Bahria College Karsaz) and June 15^th (College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences Ziauddin University) for the summer after a period of about 12 weeks

• The institutes we worked with are: Special Children School Bahria College Karsaz, Pathways British School, and College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences Ziauddin University

•  Art as Therapy sessions were being conducted by Art as Therapy Practitioners (ATPs) who were trained by the Art Therapist, Shazia Mohamed

• The 30 children who underwent art as therapy had a variety of disabilities: Hearing Impairment, Physical Disability, Intellectual Disability, Learning Difficulties, Autism Spectrum, and Speech and Language Disorder

• We received positive feedback from all of the institutes  and many parents – which was definitely a source of encouragement for the AfC team

• Positive feedback came from some of the ATPs and the children with disabilities who are eager to continue in the summer as well as in the next round

For more information: http://www.adspakistan.com.pk/long-term-awards/disability-fact-sheet

Applications close 25th March 2013.

Download the report.

Youth Ambassadors

Some of the Youth Ambassadors celebrating a successful day’s work!

We started the session with learning about 6 disabilities: visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical disability, speech & language disorder, Autism and intellectual disability. We also learnt about Human Rights and examined the articles of the United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities so we can be better informed during our future advocacy campaigns!

Youth Ambassadors

Sumra Ahmed, Programme Manager of NOWPDP’s Artpreneurs for Change, delivered an insightful session on how art can be used as therapy. She also described how this concept has been turned into a sustainable project providing art as therapy for children with disabilities.

Sumra Ahmed holds up artwork produced by Ammarah, a Youth Ambassador, as part of her talk.

Kaleem produces a play-do heart as part of Sumra’s talk.

Saba inspects artwork made with play-do by Umer during the session.

This was followed by a presentation on business development where Razee Khan attempted to hyponotize the Ambassadors to be more financially aware! Ambassadors were taught skills to make awareness and fund-raising events successful. Sarah Ansari, Programme Manager of Skills Development and Market Access (heArtwork), also delivered a presentation on her programme and the products that they produce.

Sarah Ansari talks about her project.

Razee Khan delivers a session on business development.

The last session on public speaking and theatre was conducted by Hassaan Bin Shaheen and was filled with laughter and energy. Youth Ambassadors learnt that they were all ‘Kings and Queens!’ and should speak assertively and confidently!

This is a brief synopsis of the penultimate session (which lasted 6 hours) to becoming Youth Ambassadors for disability and inclusive society. This post is part of a series covering Youth Ambassador trainings which can be found here: Week 1 and Week 2.

The Youth Ambassadors!

The aim of the training session was to familiarize the group to assistive devices used in the workplace for which we visited Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) and the Rickshaw Office to discuss barriers in society.

We rented a coaster for Youth Ambassadors from Froebel Education Center, Southshore and Ida Rieu. Because of the noisy ride, we took the opportunity to practice sign language whilst on board! This week we were also thrilled to be joined by Youth Ambassadors from AURA.

One of the AURA vans.

Youth Ambassadors from Ida Rieu, Southshore and Froebel Education Center.

At KESC Mr Shariq Karim, General Manager of Customer Services, told us about his experience with making the workplace more inclusive. He also told us about an inspiring programmer with visual impairment who integrated screen readers into their Customer Service Representative programme.

Mr Shariq Karim, General Manager of Customer Services at KESC.

We sat with customer service representatives placed at KESC by our very own NRS. Youth Ambassadors learnt more about screen reading software installed to make the customer service software accessible to people with visual impairment.

Youth Ambassadors speak to Customer Service Representatives with visual impairments.

We then traveled to the Rickshaw Project Office. The Rickshaw Project, managed by Reem Khan, is an initiative of NOWPDP and aims to provide a rickshaw service driven exclusively by people with disabilities. We met the Rickshaw team, and had a debate about usage of words like ‘mazoor’, ‘disability’ and ‘special’. These words often illicit negative and patronizing images of groups that are also excluded in society. We realized that if society was truly inclusive so that no groups were denied access or opportunities, we would have not need to use these words.

At the Rickshaw Project’s Office: discussing barriers to education.

Mrs Bilquis, a senior teacher at Ida Rieu, interprets in sign language for Youth Ambassadors with hearing impairment.

Siraj, part of the Rickshaw Project, shares his experiences with regards to barriers in employment.

 

 

 

Youth Ambassadors discuss barriers in society as it’s documented by Luc Bellon.

We also discussed the attitudinal and environmental barriers surrounding people with disabilities with respect to different spheres in society.

This post is part of a series covering the training of NOWPDP Youth Ambassadors. Find the previous post here!

Youth Ambassadors from 3 schools got together at Ida Rieu to:

1. Learn beginner’s sign language,

2. Make Inclusive Ludo games,

3. And learn about disabilities and inclusive society.

The group that produced the best Ludo set came up with a name for the group as well: ‘Jazba’!

This was the first of four training sessions for Youth Ambassadors. Students from Froebel Education Center, Ida Rieu and Southshore attended with great enthusiasm. It is part of a larger initiative to train and empower students to demand rights for people with disabilities and raise awareness about inclusive society!

Keep an eye out for updates here and contact saba@nowpdp.org if your school would like to take part in the next cycle.

The next post in this series can be found here!

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