Title: best practice for social inclusion
Country, city: GREECE, Volos
Target group of the project: 10 volunteers with typical development (18 – 22 years old), students at the Faculty of Special Pedagogy in Volos Greece, and 5 visual impairments youth (18-25 years old), members of multidisciplinary team of the organization.
Aim of the project: The activities was funded and organized by the NGO “Changing myself…I change the world” and “MAGNITES TIFLI”. The activity aimed to train 10 volunteers on how to approach, assist, and support visually impaired youth, while also giving both groups the opportunity to spend a one-day beach trip together.
Description of the activities
The training course was developed in an interactive engaging manner, using different learning techniques (e-learning modules: providing sighted guide assistance, different sight loss conditions, managing safeguarding situation) and face to face workshops.
Students learned to assist visually impaired persons in navigating various environments (e.g., chairs, narrow areas, stairs, vehicles, roads, public transport), becoming their “guardian angel.”
They also got knowledge related to assistive aids/devices used by the visually impaired persons in general and for assisted eating in special, theoretical and practical knowledge on how to use the clock reference system and compass reference system. The clock reference system can help visually impaired person to form a mental picture of where each food item is located on the plate. Compass reference system is for persons with difficulty using clock reference system, in which food is described with North, South, East, West; north-east, north-west..
The trained students participated together with the multidisciplinary team of the foundation in 1 day trip with 5 visually impaired
During the trip the youth visited the Archeological Museum of Volos (Athanasakeion Archaeological museum) that houses many exquisite finds from early 20th century and modern archaeological excavations in Thessaly (jewelry, household utensils and agricultural tools, originating from the Neolithic settlements of Dimini and Sesklo, clay statuettes and a wide variety of items from the Geometric period. The group had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour and touch some of the exhibits
The trained volunteers and the visual impaired youth:
Had lunch and dinner at the restaurant, thus having the possibility to apply in practice the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired during the course.
All together swim at the nearby beach
Socializing at the cafeteria: some participants played team games, playing cards, Dominos etc. while others shared their experiences and demonstrated to each other the use of smart phones and tablets.
Walk on the prominence and drinks at a bar with live Greek music
The experience was a great and fun one for all participants. They all considered the experience to be a successful one and highly evaluated all planned activities. The participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences, meet other participants with similar interest and form new friendships. The experience was also of great value for the sighted participants who stated that besides spending a nice trip by the beach they also had the opportunity to be of help to anyone who needed some assistance while meeting new friends
The students increase their communication and interpersonal skills, their patience to deliver sighted guide assistance, learn to manage safe guarding situations.
Volunteers:
- Gained satisfaction from supporting visually impaired persons to live actively and independently.
- Strengthened efforts by youth organizations to include participants with disabilities in all types of events.
- Encouraged youth workers to involve people with various disabilities in youth activities and inform families about the benefits of non-formal education.