Gladys-

Can you please explain more about the awarenes program that was conducted with the parents? Do you have any information that you could post about the program or what topics were covered?

Also, many people here reading this task may not be familiar with the type of discrimination and treatment that people with disabilities may experience in your country. Could you provide more detailed information about that? I think it would help others understand the deeply rooted beliefs that have prevented people with disabilities from full inclusion in your community.

This is a link that I shared in the group "Addressing the Needs of People with Disabilities" to a toolkit for a Disability Awareness Campaign. This could be used to provide a basic structure to build your campaign around:

http://www.independentliving.org/docs2/daa3.pdf

Handicap International also offers some great tools and resources that can be utilized for disability awareness campaigns-offered in French and English. They can be accessed online or they also have CD-ROM's.

http://handicap-international.fr/bibliographie-handicap

I would love to chat with you further about this topic-I sent you a private message with my chat ID's, so if you are available please do not hesitate to contact me.

All the best-

Jennifer

Hi Gladys-

The Harvard Project on Disability has a great resource posted to their website, a training manual titled "Human Rights. Yes!" It is located here:

http://hpod.org/pdf/HumanRightsYes.pdf

It is a rather large file, so depending on your connection you may have trouble downloading it. If so, let me know and I can send it via another format by email. This one is quite nice because it contains suggested group activities and is specifically related to the rights of people with disabilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

I think it's another great resource to draw from.

All the best-

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for the information.Like you said I have not been able to download all of it because of how bulky it is.I looked at the part that was downloaded and it is good.So I will be glad if you can send it to me through the format that you talked of.
Thanks
Gladys

AWARENESS CREATION
The awareness creation program that was carried out by the school authorities was on advocacy and capacity building. Participants were parents and guardians of the children. They were educated on how to take care of their children at home and also to encourage them to do things on their own. They should not over protect the child since that means pampering him/her.It was explained to them there is the need to have an advocacy group and since this group of children cannot talk or express themselves there is the need for the parents to come together and fight for the rights of their children and also create the awareness of the existence of a special school.They should be the mouth piece of their wards.A similar one was organized for the parents by an organisation, Action on Disability for Development(ADD).It encouraged them to work as a group.It is only then that they can get the attention of & support from organizations
In Atulibabisi and for that matter Northern Ghana, persons with cognitive disability are considered a punishment from the gods. In some extreme cases they are killed in their childhood. Such children are not supposed to live. They are shunned in public and /or are gazed at as if they are not human beings. They are stigmatized. I witnessed a case where one child was beaten (as if to beat the evil that has made him like that out of him.) Families and relatives are of little or no help. From my own experience they only pretend to show concern when the child’s mother or father is around. So sometimes I wonder “ What happens when the child loses both parents? Only God knows. Because of the stigmatisation some parents abandon their children who roam on the streets begging and behaving like persons who are insane. While we have some parents so caring and supportive in the rehabilitation of their children ,others see the school especially the boarding ones as a dumping ground for their children They think by doing this they have gotten rid of them and are therefore free of that stigmatization. Others hide them in their homes just to avoid the stigmatization. Most of these children also have seizures apart from the cognitive disability and so they need much care from mothers and not what is meted out to them as described above. People do not see the need to educate such persons. They are not involved in any thing at home with the excuse that they can’t do and don’t know anything. With the establishment of the school much education ( in formal) has to take place so that they can be convinced that persons like these if given the chance can learn to do things according to their capabilities. Just allowing them either to roam on the street or locking them up will not solve the problem. They need to be taught basic things like how to brush their teeth, bathe , dress & feed themselves with little or no supervision. Also to help in domestic chores such as sweeping ,feeding and watering the animals like sheep and goats, chicken etc. The ultimate goal is for them to be independent and also be engaged in some handwork in future.
The target audiences of the awareness creation I am talking of are;
1) Parents and guardians of persons with cognitive disability to do away with such beliefs that their children are a punishment from the gods, have a positive attitude towards the lives of their children & rather see the potential in their children.
2) The general public. I know it is not easy to change the attitude of people towards disability but with time society will come to accept the disabled as they are and stop the stigmatization and discrimination. If there are suggestions of what else to include ,they are welcome. This campaign is at the rural level .for now and not national level.

Gladys-

Thank you for the detailed description you provided. I think that this will be very helpful for people who may not be as familiar with the way that people with disabilities are viewed and treated.

One area that might be explored is partnership with a school or organization for people with disabilities in a developed country. Sharing information and experiences may be a very beneficial step toward greater understanding and awareness.

Another thought might be to try and replicate a similar group like the one that Action on Disability for Development and focus on addressing the needs of these families in a sustainable way to help them care for their child in the best way possible. Creating a program around that support to the parents.

I hope that I will be able to talk with you soon so that we can further discuss these issues. I look forward to hearing from you.

All the best-

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer
Thanks for the suggestions you offered.I will let you know when we can talk more on that.
Thanks
Gladys

- When I worked in Peru with children with disabilities one effective step was going outside with the children. We went to places like the market and walked around in the streets of the neighbourhood I was living in. It helped creating awareness. Most of the people reacted really surprised on the existence of the children and the reactions where almost always positive. For example when I did carry a child from seven years old with cerebral palsy to the market to drink some fruit juice some woman came up to me to ask me questions about the ‘baby’ I was carrying. I did explain them about the age of the child and how it happened that he did look and act like a little child. We talked for about half an hour and they where really interested in the mental disability, they never new of the existence before.
- Then it will be great if you can work together with schools/ hospitals/local leaders/ authorities. Maybe they can point out families with children with disabilities. Most effective will be visiting all these families, explain them about the condition  make clear it’s not something to be ashamed of and explain them about the help you can offer. I think for most families a child with a disability is seen as burden because they don’t know how to take care of them, how to interact with them and how to make use of their abilities. If you can explain to the family that you can offer the child and in that way also the family a better perspective for the future, there is a big opportunity that they accept your help

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Warm regards, Lotte

Hi Lotte,
Thanks for sharing your experience and ideas with me .I know It will not be easy especially when dealing with a government institution but I am bent on doing it and so I will put all your ideas into action.I have sent you a private message.
Thanks for all your efforts
Gladys

Gladys-

Is there a parent group for the students presently enrolled at the school?

I think for the disability awareness program, it will be important first to build a strong network among the parents/guardians of the children enrolled. They will be the strongest advocates for outreach to other parents in the community who may not be sending their child with a disability to school.

I am also wondering what groups exist in your local community for people with disabilities? This may be a NGO, community center for people with disabilities, workshop for adults. Can you tell us more about what organizations exist in the local area? If we can identify successful adults with disabilities in your community perhaps they can be approached about helping with a training module in the disability awareness program.

Kind regards-

Jennifer

There is an active parent group which is made up of parents of the students.They are well organized but it when issues involving finances crop up that they have challenges.This is because of the poverty level of these people.I think we will have to encourage and strengthen this already existing group to reach out to other parents.Thanks for this suggestion.
The groups which exist locally are Action On Disability & Development(ADD)which is an NGO and Social Welfare which is a government agency.Both have rehabilitation centers for training of the visually impaired & physically challenged.Their focus is on this category of disabled persons.Because of the nature of disability of the persons with cognitive disability,they cannot be involved in their activities.However, ADD has tried to include parents in their meetings and discussions and so far only one parent has shown interest and commitment.
One thing is that awareness creation of the disability of the visually impaired and physically challenged has gone far ahead of that of the cognitive disability in the community and for that matter the country.Education of children with cognitive disability has not been long in this country and so it appears a new and strange thing to people.
But all the same I think we can still liase with ADD for help with a training module.
Best Regards,
Gladys

i need more information about this project.

What information are you seeking specifically? I'd be happy to answer any questions that are not answered here and am certain that Gladys, our local representative would be as well, but we need to understand better what you are asking for.

There is information in the village background and threads of each task about the school. If there is something more that is not already noted, please let me know what your question(s) are.

Thank you-

Jennifer
Facilitator for Atulibabsi

Gladys-

This article is about a disability awareness training program called "Windmills" here in the United States. One thing that I like about this program a lot is the different training modules that it offers. In a typical training, depending on where the training is offered, different modules are chosen to address the particular needs of the audience. I think maybe if we did some brainstorming around this that we could devise some activities that could be done in a group setting to increase personal awareness of attitudes toward people with disabilities and how this contributes to stigma in society as a whole. Please read this over and hopefully we can start doing some brainstorming on types of activities that may be appropriate and reflective of the current situation in your community in Ghana.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tilting+at+windmills:+changing+attitudes+t...

If anyone else has examples of disability awareness training programs offered in your country-we would love for you to post examples, or tell us what in particular you felt was most effective about a program you may have attended yourself.

Warm regards-

Jennifer