Celebration of International Disability Day

To prepare for International Disability Day, three of the SHG prepared power point presentations on the Arabic Sign Language Alphabet and numbers. These were used as a tool for their play for the celebration of International Disability Day held on Friday 5^th December in El Buss. After teaching the alphabet in sign language, members of the audience were asked to introduce themselves in sign language, say their age and what they liked. It was interesting to see the difference in those who knew already and those who didn’t. The activity raised the awareness and sparked and interest for those who had not previously known the alphabet.

The event started with a clown who entertained and danced with the children.

They were all delighted to interact with him, and their day got better when they went off to join the activities planned by the community for them. There was face painting, colouring in, pasta art and more. To add a twist to the day and raise awareness, each child had a partner, and they would take it in turns at being blindfolded for one activity and having their partner lead them, or at having their hands tied behind their back in the next activity and instructing their partner what they would like done for them.

The older group started their session with a discussion about a jet ski race that all participants except one, pulled out of because of heavy fog. The one who didn’t pull out was blind, so it made no difference to him. This sparked a discussion about abilities and was a good awareness raising tool. Following is the link to the British Red Cross website with the English version of the Jet ski lesson plan, and attached is the Arabic Translation.Jet Ski Arabic

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The next activity for the older group was a maths competition given and answered in sign language after being taught the alphabet. The participants were very eager to communicate in sign language and a bit frustrated by the lack of ease of answering. The event was a good awareness raiser and now, 6 of the participants will take the activities back to their communities to work on awareness raising there.

The SHG has a break now for Eid and Christmas, but will be back in the new year with more activities to raise awareness on the Right to Education for Children with Disabilities.