As a part of the PYP 4 unit of inquiry, we are inquiring into the challenges, risks and opportunities encountered by children worldwide. Ms. Anita from the NGO, EKansh Trust, came to our classroom to talk about differently abled children and the challenges faced by some of these children, as she had a lot of experience working with differently abled children. She told us that disability could be generally categorized as physical, sensory or mental and went on to discuss them with us.
First she taught us about sign language which is used by differently abled people to communicate with other people when they can’t hear or talk. She enlightened us all about how some children treat children with disabilities and how they tell others to ignore the kids with disabilities.
She then showed us slides on how some children don’t have accessibility to services for example: transportation, toilets, tactile footpaths etc. and because of this their rights are impacted. She also showed us a video on how a boy (Patrick) couldn’t communicate with anyone, then one person who knew sign language started a class. Patrick went to school in a country where there were people who couldn’t go to school because they couldn’t talk. It impacted his feelings because he was happier after he had learnt to communicate.
Ms. Anita then showed us another video about a playground in America where kids with disabilities could play. This was to show that we could include people with disabilities and give them equal opportunities to play. She showed us a magazine written in Braille. Without braille it would be challenging for people who can’t see to read. With this they get an opportunity to read and understand what the writing says. She gave us the chance to play tactile games like tic-tac-toe, tactile Rubik’s cube and explore braille to help us understand the challenges some children face. Inspired by this, some PYP4 children made games like rock paper scissors and animal sound for blind people who cannot play regular games.
We learned about different disabilities and how challenging it is for them to live. We felt knowledgeable that we learned about them and happy there was an organization that was helping people with disabilities who didn’t have access to things that we do. We felt secure knowing that there is an organization to help us if we, or someone we know, has any disabilities. Before she left, Ms. Anita gave us some books to read about children with disabilities called Celebrating Differences.
Collaborative work by students of PYP4