On 11 October, DPA conducted disability awareness training and experiential activities for trainers from MOE’s Outdoor Adventure Learning Centre. Our Inclusion Ambassadors Margaret, Rosie and James interacted with the participants and led them through the experiential activities.
As part of the session, Rosie took the participants to the world of Braille. They made Braille bookmarks with sentences of their choice. The participants were thrilled and greatly enjoyed the hands-on craft session where they created a little souvenir to take home; a souvenir that reminds them of inclusion! By attending this training, the participants gained the realistic experience of the richness that inclusion brings to our lives; how inclusion supports us in our everyday lives, connecting us to ourselves and others, and how it enables us to live better lives.
The second part of the OALC engagement, DPA was invited to conduct an interaction session for students on 2 November 2017. The DPA team visited their campus which is located at the fringe of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve near the Dairy Farm. Our nine Inclusion Ambassadors (Esmond, Eugene, Halipa, James, Joseph, Margaret, Rosie, Sakina and Timothy) interacted with students from Temasek Junior College and shared their experience. The participants also enjoyed having dinner with our Inclusion Ambassadors. This interaction session aimed to promote an environment where participants can learn how to effectively interact with persons with disabilities. The session was very impactful for students, especially the rubix cube challenge with our Inclusion Ambassador James. This interaction session helped the participants to develop an inclusive mindset.
This session was unique as it had 150 students and nine Inclusion Ambassadors participating; the highest attendance for any DPA interaction session to date. DPA looks forward to more of such interaction sessions where we can come together to provide a space for learning, reflection, and relationship-building while promoting inclusion of persons with disabilities.