inclusion
Call for inclusion goes global
Sara Pickard reports on her travels to Kenya to train people in self-advocacy as part of an international campaign. This year, she is promoting the worldwide Calls to Action for Inclusion, starting with education for all
As part of my work, I represent Europe as the self-advocate council member for a worldwide organisation called Inclusion International.
One aspect of this involves developing a global self-advocacy programme called Empower Us, which aims to improve the lives of those with intellectual disabilities and their families around the world. To find out more about this programme, you can visit www.selfadvocacyportal.com.
Over the past year, Empower Us has provided training for self-advocates in several parts of the world including Togo, Nepal and, most recently, Kenya.
I was fortunate to be part of the training team, alongside Jennifer ‘Jayne’ Akinyi and Mark Mapemba (see photo) in Nairobi, which delivered training in October 2018 to 15 self-advocates from across East Africa.
It was very rewarding to see how well they developed their skills in order to deliver training themselves to others in the future.
As we were having to deliver the training through translators, using several languages, it was tricky at times, but to see how well the participants did by the end of the course was well worth it.
A major part of Inclusion International’s work over the past few years has been gathering together views from self-advocates from across the world about how they felt their lives could be improved.
Spelling it out at the Nairobi conference: the Calls to Action for Inclusion cover education, work, family support and more
These became our ‘big issues’, which were then developed into our six Calls to Action for Inclusion at our Global Self-Advocacy Summit in 2018 (see box). These demands have since been shared at our World Congress and now been adopted to guide our work around the world.
During 2019, we will be focusing on each of these Calls to Action for Inclusion for two months at a time, beginning with the demand for inclusive education to start the year.
To follow developments on our Calls to Action for Inclusion or to find out more about the work of Inclusion International, please visit our website at: http://inclusion-international.org.
Closer to home
As well as my work internationally, I am the project officer for a Mencap Cymru project, funded by Children in Need and based in Cardiff, called Play Our Way.
We recruit and train young people with and without learning disabilities to take part in new mainstream activities that they would otherwise never encounter.
So far we have introduced our ambassadors to indoor climbing, trampolining, table tennis, go-karting and white water rafting, horse riding, surfing, sailing and sea kayaking, including some residential weekends in exciting places.
As well as being the project officer, I have to do all the activities with our ambassadors…. which can be a bit scary … but which I love doing!!!
Training with Jayne Akinyi and Mark Mapemba of Empower Us in Nairobi, Kenya
Calls to Action for Inclusion
Education
We demand that all boys and girls with an intellectual disability go to school and are included in the same classroom as other children
Valued equally
We demand to be valued equally and for the discrimination we face to end
Families
We demand that families are supported, included and valued
Jobs
We demand real jobs in the community with real pay and the support we need to be successful
Institutions
We demand that all institutions are closed and that no new institutional type settings are built again
Community
We demand to be included and part of our communities
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