I have the right to safe and accessible transportation!
This is the message of "Without Barriers" which was implemented as a part of the activities of the project “Improving the Psychosocial Resilience of Children with and without Disabilities and their Families in the Gaza Strip”, funded by The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through CBM- Germany and implemented by Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children and its partners.
The project aims to improve the psychosocial resilience of 2,050 children and adolescents with and without disabilities all over the Gaza Strip, as well as improving the children's coping, recovery and self-help skills through structured individual and group psychological support, enhancing the inclusive service provision through building partners’ capacities in the inclusive strategies in supporting children with and without disabilities and conducting physical accessibility works, and empowering the parenting skills of families.
"Without Barriers" initiative aimed to support the right to movement of children and adults with disabilities. The initiative significantly reflected inclusive approach as it targeted 100 children with and without disabilities distributed across the five partner institutions; Tamer institute for Community Education, Nawa for Culture and Arts Association, Asriyya Center and SOS Children's Villages. during the month of July.
The initiative aimed to shed light on the right of persons with disabilities to use adoptive means of transportation through discussing the daily obstacles people with disabilities face when moving from a place to another. The initiative included many activities; such as storytelling and screening a short film on the importance of the right to movement. Throughout the activities, children were able to express their opinions and share lessons learned.
The initiative was not limited to indoor activities only, but expanded to include outdoor activities through pasting stickers and posters that promote the right to movement on the various means of public transportation.
In search of real change on the ground, the partner organizations and participating children visited the transportation companies, where they talked about the importance of accessible transportation. Some of the transportation companies welcomed the idea and expressed its willingness to adapt some of its buses to suit the needs of persons with disabilities.
It is worth mentioning that the activities of the initiative took into consideration COVID-19 safety precautions and measures, ensuring that children and staff members were safe during activities.
Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children and its partners work on following up on the completion of the initiative in order to achieve the objectives of the project and to achieve a sustainable impact.
Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children is a non-profit organization that endeavors to empower persons with and without disabilities in the Gaza Strip and improve their quality of life within a disability-inclusive development framework.