CAIRO: Raising awareness about people with disabilities is the current concern of a group of students at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
They have developed an innovative community service learning project that aims to encourage the acceptance and inclusion of persons with disabilities in Egyptian society.
The project is titled “Promoting the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Egypt: A Community Based Approach.
Working closely with local and international NGOs, the students – who are taking an advanced community psychology course – developed a comprehensive program that includes a survey of attitudes toward people with disabilities and a short documentary film showing the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
It also includes a model employment program, involving both placement and follow-up, with an education and awareness raising component for co-workers.
There project also features a guide to the appropriate language that should be used to refer to persons with disabilities in the media.
“Although Egypt ratified a recent UN convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, persons with disabilities will not be able to access their basic human rights until many changes are made in both the physical and the social environment, said Elizabeth Coker, AUC associate professor and psychology unit head.
Coker added that the media plays an enormous role in shaping the attitudes of society. “In the past, television, movies and other media portrayed people with disabilities as helpless objects of charity or ridicule. We hope that, through our work, the media will help pave the way for the full inclusion of people with disabilities by changing the way they portray and discuss them, she said.
This student initiative will also be presented at a community psychology confreence in Lisbon, Portugal this coming June.
