Delhi Public School Disability Awareness campaign.
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by
admin
The essence of AWARENESS is the realization that there is a huge world out there with amazing people who live very different lives.
We at Trinayani believe that if one is made aware of the several ways in which people differ, we will learn how to embrace diversities and the importance of respecting and tolerating differences among us. When it comes to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) we need to also learn how to overcome age-old stereotypes, negative attitudes and prejudices about them and their abilities. These prejudices are sown into our minds at a very young age, and if they are not altered, we carry them along for a long time and they continue to cloud and obscure our judgment throughout.
The Right to Education is a fundamental right. Today schools have a growing need to develop skills to handle differences. In India, we have a government policy in place for Inclusive Education called Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan.
But unfortunately, fear of laws does not necessarily change reality. What we need is a collective will and desire from within to bring in a radical positive change in us and our environment. In today’s world, the biggest barriers to equality of the people with disabilities are archaic, One-track attitudes towards them.
At Trinayani, we believe that proper communication is needed to raise awareness on disability, which is too often perceived as merely a health issue, approached with pity, stigma and basically unknown to the public at large. We design Communication Campaigns to educate people on disability and encourage acceptance of disability as part of the diversity of the human condition (gender, religion, culture, etc.).
Addressing the academic community and sharing the message of equality and diversity to allow students to go on to include this knowledge in every walk of life is of paramount importance to us.
As a step towards demystifying issues pertaining to disabilities, we partnered with Takshila Education Society which manages and runs four Delhi Public Schools, each in Patna, Pune, Ludhiana and Coimbatore to conceptualize and design their Annual Theme for the academic year March 2015–March 2016, which we aptly titled Celebrating Diversity- the Difference is in knowing.
We worked closely with the coordinators and teachers of the 4 Delhi Public Schools to infuse disability awareness lessons in the entire length and breadth of the school curriculum, be it geography, history, sports, arts, media, robotics, annual concert etc.