Supporting disabilities - focussing on abilities (to the extent of letting me play the tambourine...)
on Mischa in Cameroon (Cameroon), 04/Aug/2010 19:47, 34 days ago
Today I played with glitter glue, got nuzzled by a couple of people, participated in a workshop on behaviour management during arguments, and danced on a flashing disco floor. It was one of the best days of my British summer holiday so far. I’m volunteering withKith and Kids, a north London charity that supports people with disabilities and their families, on their summer activity project.Kith and Kids has a very strong focus on supporting members’ abilities, and everyone who participates in their projects is treated first and foremost as an individual with an individual’s needs, talents, and preference. For instance staff stay late in the evening every day of project to design the following days timetable in response to feedback from members and volunteers.It’s not only the members who improve their skills during projects: over the past five years of regular volunteering I’ve honed multiple abilities, including how to improvise songs about sheep, negotiate potentially violent situations, and help cook a themed multiple course meal for sixty on a tight budget (you have to go on residential camp for that one).Back in May whilst I was still in Cameroon a local NGO, theFondation Bethleem, came to Maga to assess the needs of people with disabilities in the area (the picture on the left is me with one of the youngest attendees). I wanted a boy at one of my schools whose legs have been badly crippled by polio to come and see them. His village, however, is a forty-five minute cycle ride from Maga, so I made sure his headmaster knew about the visit so he’d be able to bring him on his motorbike. When I saw him in Maga I asked him if he’d come on a motorbike. “No,” he replied. “Then how did you get here?” I asked, unable to imagine any other transport he could have taken. “I walked, of course,” he said.People with disabilities in Maga continue to astound me with the breadth of ability they show: there’s a man with one leg who rides a bicycle, women with no legs who raise children and do all the household cooking and washing, a blind man who weeds his own rice field and has a successful fishing business, and a neighbour whose cerebral palsy means that he’s never been able to go to school butis nevertheless able to talk to me in French. I’m equally impressed here in London watching Kith and Kids members learning new negotiation skills, or how to hold a paintbrush, or even how to become volunteers themselves and support others with special needs.During my VSO training I was introduced to the‘social model of disability’. This says that that while some people have physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological variations, which may sometimes cause individual functional limitation or impairments, these do not have to lead to disability, unless society fails to take account of and include people regardless of their individual differences.I, for instance, at five foot two, am too short to reach the top shelves in most supermarkets. Fortunately this does not mean I am unable to eat anything placed on the top shelf of a supermarket. Instead through a range of equipment (stools, lower shelves), helpful staff, and a tolerant society adapted to my needs (tall people who are willing to get things down for me) I am not disadvantaged by my height.In the same way, by making sure that everyone with special needs has the right equipment and support (which many in the UK may be at risk of losing due to thenew Academies legislation), and lives in a tolerant and inclusive society, people we consider‘disabled’ will actually not be so. In Cameroon, interestingly, I have found that although there is a lot less material support for people with disabilities that in the UK, in general people have a more tolerant and relaxed attitude to disability than I’ve noticed here.A quick plug to finish: Kith and Kids is definitely the best charity I’ve ever come across, either in the UK or overseas. They’re always in need of donations and volunteers-get involved! Tomorrow on my schedule: trampolining, making Toy Story action figures from cardboard, and almost certainly playing the tambourine (this last may stretch the tolerance of even the lovely people at Kith and Kids!). Can’t wait.