Equal OpportunitiesEqual Opportunities

How to entail more opportunities for disabled children in relationship

& contact with other kids

Els Vanoverberghe, Stephanie Stans, Annelies Vandenberghe, Joke Vervaeke

StephanieStephanie AnneliesAnnelies

ElsEls JokeJoke

We are..

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

We live..in Belgium

Our school..KHBO,situated in Bruges

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

IntroductionDiscussion: How to integrate childrenwith a disability? more equal opportunities & ways

of integration

Target group: Playground in RoeselareExperience: Youth club

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Overview• Project equal chances

– What?– Integration inclusion– Why?– Aims?– Methods?– Organisations?– Why OT’s?– Risks?– Visions for the future?

• Case-studie• Conclusion

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Project equal chancesWhat?

Main aim of our project:Let children with a disability & ones without a disability play together in a fixed setting: the playground

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Project equal chancesWhat: Two activities

1) Seatickles

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Project equal chancesWhat: Two activities

Decorate wooden frames with all kinds of materials. rope, paints & mosaic stones

Watching the other children they delivered beautiful pieces of art...

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

2) Not for softies

Project equal chancesWhat: Two activities

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

How to use make-up to make it look

like real-life wounds.

Project equal chances

One to one monitoring was needed to keep things in control, but mostly the children helped each other...

What: Two activities

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

• Integration ..adapt to the given circumstances, the

norms & values applied on the playground..

• Inclusion ..including others into your given

situation & adapting certain things to their ways..

Project equal chancesintegration inclusion

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Our situation: “one-on-one support” In a context of inclusion the children’s

actions also involved taking control, making choices, initiative & real participation..

Involving brothers, sisters & other relatives in our activities became an inevitable & constructive part

of our project..

Project equal chancesintegration inclusion

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

• provide an environment in which disabled people can preserve & form their own identity extra opportunities

• play & have fun with people who respect their needs & can cope with their behaviour

• No person is identical: it is important that each child be taught how to deal with several personalities

• both groups can learn from each other

Project equal chancesWhy?

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

• make friends & new contacts based on trust & reliability

• insight on how disabled kids interact with others • create a firm base: more chances for the future• a more positive self-esteem & -awareness • emancipation & responsibility• Quality Of Life • Decreasing the gap between handicapped

persons & others

Aims?

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances

Project equal chancesMethods?

Two vacation care programs:Babbeloe:

a specially designed playground for disabled kids & their siblings doubts about the safety precautions

Grabbelpas: an ordinary playground make adjustments &

changes + create more suitable & safe surroundings for both groups

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Babbeloe:– What?

Disabled children generally feel better & safer in a small care centre where the infrastructure is adapted to their needs & where they can play at their own pace with a fixed team of monitors

– Target group?disability + age: 5-12 + Roeselare-Izegem-Tielt

Project equal chancesMore about the playgrounds:

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Grabbelpas:- a vacation care program for children without

limitations- some days they take trips to places like

amusement parks & movie theatres, other days they stay at the playground & play games

Project equal chancesMore about the playgrounds:

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

It is important because:• As an occupational therapist you have to be able to

handle conform a person’s wishes, doing so by taking acombination of each individual separately &environmental & performance components into consideration

• Correct results: kids with & without a handicap

Project equal chancesWhy OT’s?

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

• Lack of monitors for the one-on-one support• Small scale project the beginning of a bigger plan• Do all monitors have enough experience &

knowledge to support our project? if not, give them information

• The complete ignorance people have towards these children

• Not enough means or grants from the government• Conflicts & raws

Project equal chancesRisks?

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Belgium does not have many of these joined playgrounds.

carry out the results of our small scale project & warm people’s

hearts to the idea of such playgrounds.

Project equal chancesVisions for the future?

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

• Extra information on some of the children This will give you an idea of how we experienced this “joined venture” & what we think are the positive effects of such an experiment

• The children: (fictive names)– Amy: Type 2 (moderate mental handicap) +

hyperkinetic– Nick: Dyspraxie (minimal brain dysfunction) +

dyslexie + dyscalculie + ADHD

Case-studie

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Case-studieCase 1: Amy

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Case studieCase 2: Nick

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

Conclusion

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

• Our experiment was successfully conducted integration & inclusion of all children

• We saw some changes of behaviour in the children with a disability accept these people with their limitations

• It is remarkable how much the disabled children picked up from other children

“ Through our project we created more equal opportunities for both groups! ”

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP,

13th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Literature

- Gielen, G. (2003) Leidt inclusie tot uitsluiting? Opinie inclusie. Sociaal 2003 7-10 - Hendriks, R. (2000) Autistisch gezelschap: Een empirisch-filosofisch onderzoek naar het gezamelijk bestaan van autistische en niet-autistische personen. Swets&Zeitlinger: Lisse - Sorée,V. (1999) Van een geïntegreerde naar een inclusieve speelpleinwerking... een utopie: Verschillende maatjes, beste maatjes. Sociaal 1999 13-15 -Wuyts, B. (1996) Anders maar niet minder, leven met een handicap. Davidsfonds: Leuven- Information from Babbeloe Roeselare & Grabbelpas Tielt- interview with parents & monies at the Grabbelpas playground