Published in Access Israel on 11/24/2011. Read original article here

 

The happening took place in the presence of MK Ilan Gilon, MK Afo Agbaria, Michal Rimon, CEO of Accessibility Israel, and the Ruderman family, who contributed to the event.

During the educational program, seventh- and eighth-grade student council students participated in an accessibility workshop over 10 weeks.

The students met once a week, met people with disabilities, heard firsthand about their needs and the difficulties they face when it comes to integrating into society and learned to accept and get to know the different.

As part of the end-of-activity assignment, the students did projects: designing a shirt, designing a poster, preparing 2 accessible routes in the community, and preparing an eighth-grade student group for the happening (lecture / instruction on what accessibility is and accepting a person with a disability).

It should be noted that the director of the education department in Zemer, Mr. Moayed, picked up the gauntlet as soon as the subject was placed on his desk and acted with determination to maintain it.

The happening is, as always, with the aim of experiencing and experiencing a number of disabilities such as sight, hearing, cognitive disabilities, movement disabilities and volunteers from the “Pass It On” organization have run a fascinating workshop on sign language.

Dr. Revital Schwartz Svirsky, Project Manager for Israel Accessibility in the North, took an active part in the exciting event and chose to share her impressions with us:

I would like to tell about the role of the children and teachers from the school in singing in the event itself, as I experienced it as part of my role in the graduation happening at the Physical Accessibility Station. .

From the very first moment of getting to know the “orange people”, the same guys who had previously been trained in accessibility (and consequently running the stations with precise timing), designed with their own hands the orange shirts designed for that day with the exciting logo in the three languages ​​”We are all human beings “- I understand that these are interested people: focused, knowledgeable and punctual. They led the students of the school who experienced the different experiences from station to station on that day at a perfect time and also kept me in the frame of time – politely but firmly.

The teachers also experienced the various physical disabilities and their accessibility and I had help and support – both in an excited translation and in explanations relevant to what was being said.
I experienced a very special moment during the training with the joining of Rabi, a resident student of a singer who had a car accident and as a result was confined to a wheelchair. The wise and witty boy demonstrated with me the use of a wheelchair and aroused the admiration of his friends for his control of the chair and its performance. The closing event in the culture hall in the presence of Knesset members and dignitaries from the locality, allowed me to raise in front of the guests and hosts the miracle of Rabi and his friends, the future generation of a singer – the same generation we all hope and believe will speak more accessible and more tolerantly.

According to MK Ilan Gilon : “Accessibility, before anything else, does not differentiate between sectors. It is a precise language that defines the place of the individual and the responsibility of the whole. ”

According to MK Apo Agbaria: “While the government does everything to separate Jews – we all do everything for coexistence, and it can be done in Hebrew and Arabic.”

According to the head of the local council, Zemer: “We are all human beings and we deserve to enjoy the pleasures of life. We are proud to be wherever there is a new sector, a new issue that broadens our horizons and access to people with disabilities.”

According to Ms. Michal Rimon, CEO of Accessibility Israel: “This is a group of children who testified that before the activity they knew nothing about the issue of accessibility, today at the end of the process, we have no doubt that these sensitive and impressive children have internalized, educated In their school, their families, in their village and in Arab society in general. ”

Heartfelt thanks to Nili Raymond, Director of Accessibility Projects in Education from the Israel Accessibility Association and to Manel for accompanying the project and training the students.

One of the singing students in an activity at a happening Activity control

H Experiential activity aimed at explaining cognitive disabilities print