TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Ferah Şenaydın
The project aimed for
*Promoting Social inclusion and integration of young people with disabilities using art such as music, dance, drama and drawing etc.
*raising awareness about disability in all areas of life, including their rights and promote respect and dignity
*Promoting tolerance towards people with disabilities
*Combating stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination
*familiarizing the participants with tools and methods of non-formal education for young people with disabilities
The organizers of this training course are specialized in the field of social inclusion of autistic individuals in to the society.
This international training course was held in İzmir, Turkey with participation of 8 partner organisations from Europe. Total 32 participants joined the project from Romania, UK, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Spain, Italy, Lithuania and Turkey.
The training involved a wide range of non-formal activities, like debates, buzz group discussions, vocal exercises & music practices, drama, creative handicraft. As well as brainstorming, reflection activities and self-reflection based on formal and nonformal methods, thematic visits to univerisity, working with people with disabilities, vocational schools, centers
of social integration for people with neuro-psychiatric problems, in order to have a direct contact with
the system in Turkey. Video testimonials of people who have a disability will serve as motivation for
the young people in their quest to develop activities for this sector of the population, shadow theatre,
Intercultural evenings will be designed to help participants to know better partner countries, with
customs, traditions, culinary art and clothing.
The project brought together participants from 8 countries, which would consider the use of innovative
practices in order to raise awareness about the problems of young people with disabilities and in order to achieve their integration in the society and labor market . Participants became motivated to be actively involved in educational programs on social inclusion, in developing new project ideas and the design of effective mechanisms to improve the situation of the persons with disabilities.
The impacts of the training on participants were:
- to consolidate their knowledge, to acquire new skills and gain experience in working with young
people with disabilities.
- to motivate young people to engage in activities aimed at the local community by raising awareness
of the role of active citizenship - to develop their spirit of initiative and selfconfidence.
- to improve their language skills in English, including specialized terms The inclusion of participants
from isolated environments and those coming from marginalized groups of young people with
disabilities, will increase awareness of the rights, obligations and responsibilities we have as
Europeans.
As the trainer of the project, I was responsible for preparing space for participants to explore their existing bliefs, thoughts and feelings about socially disadvantaged people, specifically individuals with autism. I stepped in when my participants needed some theoretical framing about cognitive aspects of autism. So my task was to act on the role of facilitator or trainer, depending on the emerging needs. I gave feedback and scaffolded my participants to help them develop their skills and gain perspectives about the topic.