Are you the director of a structure which welcomes children with a project centred on inclusion? Did you think about organising a disability awareness session within your activity centre? Your structure is indeed an ideal location to help younger people to ponder this question. Here is a better idea, why not use the game to make people experiment what it is like to live with difficulties caused by a disability! PlayMoovin’ presents you here two concrete and successful examples.
2 ideas of the ALSH (activity centre without accommodation, commonly called activity centre) disability project
Here are two examples of games used to raise awareness of disabilities in activity centres – these can be adapted for all children, ranging from preschoolers to high-schoolers.
Example of an animation project on disabilities around wheelchair rugby
Do you know about wheelchair rugby? This sport can be practiced with a multisport wheelchair and it is accessible to everyone. Although the rules slightly differ from more traditional rugby, the values are the same: discipline, respect and solidarity.
For example, this inclusive sport served as the foundation of the disability awareness program of the Drop the Béton association “Se mêler aux autres”. It allowed more than 850 children to:
- Play wheelchair rugby throughout 2021;
- Meet top-level players.
This disability awareness activity in activity centres and in schools was a good occasion to break the ice about disability-related questions. During the 30 awareness annual sessions which took place in primary schools, activity centres and in other schools, children could see for themselves the difficulties people with a motor disability face daily.
Then it’s time to play! To play wheelchair rugby, children have each used one sport wheelchair: the FreeMoovin’. It must be said that this plastic sport wheelchair is made for awareness activities with children and adults alike. Each player becomes aware of the difficulties related to disabilities while they push their limits in order to win.
A welcome under the sign of disabilities in activity centres
Why not organising an activity like the one taking place in Darney in the Vosges? Here too, sport practice was put under the spotlight. On Wednesday, the youngest children have first played tornball. While the children are sitting on a carpet blindfolded, they have to locate the ball containing bells using their ears. After they played tornball, they each sat on a wheelchair to play a wild game of wheelchair basketball as well as wheelchair relay.
The objective with this? Win points of course, but that’s not all! This type of awareness activity in activity centres impacts young people in a relevant way. Indeed, what is better than putting yourself in the place of someone suffering from a disability to become aware of what they are going through every day?
At PlayMoovin’, we think that this type of activity is essential to fight against discriminations which impact people with reduced mobility. That is why we are putting our wheelchairs for sale or for rent. These can adapt to anyone and can be used by every child no matter their age. Raising awareness of disabilities in this way can be done as early as in preschool.
2 reasons to raise awareness of disabilities in activity centres
Focusing on the project of disabilities in activity centres is interesting for two essential reasons. Children who are relevant to this project can have autism, a visual, hearing or even mental disability.
Better integrating children suffering from a disability
Welcoming a child suffering from a disability is held away by the orientation law from the 30th of June 1975. “The social integration and access to activities of the child or the adult suffering from a physical, sensory or mental disability are a national obligation.”. Moreover, article 23 of the international convention for child rights says that “children who suffer from a mental or physical disability must live a decent and fulfilling life, in conditions which guarantee their dignity, favour their autonomy and facilitate their active participation to the life of the community”.
As a director of an extracurricular centre or of reception locations during vacations you can be required to integrate a disabled child within your structure. Whether the child is autistic, suffers from a motor, visual or hearing disability, they have to be happy to be there. They must be able to participate in all the activities like any other child their age. Sport is of course an integral part of it. For instance, you can rent a sport wheelchair to allow them to take part in all the positive adventures. The quality of their vacation depends on it!
Their inclusion in a group also goes through the recognition of the difficulties by their peers. So why not propose others to be in the same conditions as disabled people?
Promote the learning of solidarity
Far more than a free disability awareness kit, teaching through play and action gives a new dimension to learning. Young people thus develop essential cognitive and social capabilities such as inclusion. In order to grasp the concept of solidarity, a child has to know what suffering from a disability is like. An activity centre is the ideal place to work towards that objective. So why not organising a disability awareness activity in your centre?
PlayMoovin’ proposes a sport wheelchair to carry out an activity to raise awareness of disabilities in your activity centre. This a golden opportunity to demystify disabilities and to change the way children view disabilities. If you want to create a workshop, we would be happy to help so call us!
