A few weeks ago, I observed a week-long training workshop that was unlike anything I've seen before. There were a couple of things that made it special. First, all of the fifteen participants were disabled in some way, but not all in the same way. Budi has severe cerebral palsy, Sahrul was in a factory accident that took both of his arms almost to the elbow, Acana is deaf, Luis is legally blind, Noni has Downs Syndrome.. and so on. Second, there was some kind of interpretation going on at all times in the room (at most English, Indonesian, sign language). Third, there was a cartoonist capturing all of what was happening in the sessions, and he was amazing! Fourth, the room was set up so that everyone's special needs were taken care of.. like, really big script on the projections and music in the background for the blind who don't have the visual stimulation during quieter times. Everyone was willing to help someone else if they could.. and each had some way of helping the another person.
Together, over the course of the week, they all learned about facilitating and empowering communities to better understand the needs of the disabled.
 |
| sign language, Indonesian, and English all at once |
 |
| Our participants |
The participants were encouraged to be creative when expressing themselves, so this training had lots of singing, poems, and stories. Lots and lots of pictures and group work.
 |
| thinking about stereotypes.. |
It was great to see the participants become increasingly empowered over the course of the week, and it was great for me to meet them and hear more about their everyday challenges and what they have been able to accomplish in spite of them. At the end of the training, we each made a list of things that we were going to do after the week ended. I said that I would: be more willing to ask for help, ask people how they would like to be helped, and expose my kids to more different kinds of people. and I might try to learn sign language too!
