Summer without restrictions: the only inclusive children’s camp in Ukraine was organized in the Kyiv region.
For the fourth year in a row, the first children’s inclusive camp of its kind in Ukraine is being held in the Kyiv region. These are two shifts of eight days of selected entertainment, games, educational activities and just a summer vacation for children with speech and hearing problems, as well as for healthy kids. Ufond managed to visit this camp and find out for sure: an inclusive society begins where Man begins - in childhood.
This year, the first shift of the inclusive tent camp started on July 12. The traditional gathering place is the slopes of the Dnieper in a picturesque corner of the Kiev region near Rzhishchev. Organizer - NGO " Feel " ,together with the partner of the mission " Light in the East " .
“Our camp consists of 3 groups of children (about 70 in total), including children with hearing and speech problems. There are absolutely healthy and children with cochlear implantation. Most of them came for the first time. We deliberately do not divide them on these grounds, because the main purpose of the camp is socialization. Both hearing and non-hearing children. We aim to make everyone here feel equal, ”said Daria Gerasimchuk, executive director of Vidchuy.
Daria Gerasimchuk is in the center.
According to her, the camp program is not just a children’s sports vacation near the river and entertainment, but also many challenging activities for self-development. The program department organizes every day in the camp.
“Children are always busy during the day. At our hubs we study a lot of classes in which deaf children can find their vocation: business, creativity and art, construction and architecture, cooking. In fact, we do career guidance. We even make ecological furniture from pellets, shoot videos, draw cartoons, write productions. Life was thought out up to the sorting of garbage. All team games are also mixed. Everything is done with sign language translation - productions, games, watching movies and cartoons. Hearing and non-hearing children always work together, and to achieve the result, they must, no matter how cool, find a common language in any way, ”added Daria.
However, it was not possible to achieve results in communication between hearing and non-hearing children. The first such tent camp was not easy for children who were not used to the problem of hearing loss, as well as for the deaf, who were used to communicating exclusively with each other, but not with the hearing.
“We don’t have that now… If they need to say something and agree with each other, they do it in any way. But as before, they used to say "tell THIS ...", meaning the deaf - it no longer happens. For example, we have counselor Lina Deshwar with a prosthesis. Lina still has three fingers on each hand. Children begin to be calm about such things. They understand that it does not change a person. After communicating with each other, others leave here, ”says Daria.
Lina Deshwar -inclusive camp counselor.
Among the sign language interpreters in the camp is Tatiana Radchenko, a teacher at the Kyiv Training and Rehabilitation Center №6 for children with hearing and speech problems.
“I am for reasonable inclusion. If a child with a hearing or speech problem requires special conditions for study and leisure, they need to be created. But if he can live in a normal environment, then why drive him into some framework? Even if such children can study only in specially created conditions, why not rest together? Another thing is that our living environment in Ukraine is absolutely not inclusive, starting with the maternity hospital. where man begins life. And society begins with children. And children should not share whether they hear or not, no matter how they speak. They are all together in the camp. Sometimes it is difficult to find a common language. Nothing. A day or two, and find. Hearing children begin to learn sign language, non-hearing children begin to speak clearly. Children with cochlear implants are not seen as cyborgs. No one speaks in terms of "bad" and "good." We have absolutely everything good here! ”
Tatiana Radchenko
Maryana Lyukhanova, actress of the facial expressions and gestures theater, vice-miss of the world at the beauty contest among the deaf, is sure: an inclusive camp is, above all, for healthy children.
“I have not been taught anything like this since childhood, and there was no question of any inclusion. When I saw children with disabilities, I was scared. I was frightened by the ignorance of what kind of person it is, how to communicate with him. First and foremost, an inclusive summer camp is important for hearing-impaired children who are completely healthy. Depending on what is instilled in a child from childhood, this is how he grows up. The child must have an understanding from childhood that a person with a disability is completely normal. It’s just that he is physically different, ”said Mariana.
Maryana Lyukhanova is in the center
"We make history, children make history, and this camp has already become history! Thank you for a wonderful camp. Good luck next year! ” - Lina Deshvar
Lina Deshvar
This year, the first shift of the inclusive tent camp started on July 12. The traditional gathering place is the slopes of the Dnieper in a picturesque corner of the Kiev region near Rzhishchev. Organizer - NGO " Feel " ,together with the partner of the mission " Light in the East " .
“Our camp consists of 3 groups of children (about 70 in total), including children with hearing and speech problems. There are absolutely healthy and children with cochlear implantation. Most of them came for the first time. We deliberately do not divide them on these grounds, because the main purpose of the camp is socialization. Both hearing and non-hearing children. We aim to make everyone here feel equal, ”said Daria Gerasimchuk, executive director of Vidchuy.
Daria Gerasimchuk is in the center.
According to her, the camp program is not just a children’s sports vacation near the river and entertainment, but also many challenging activities for self-development. The program department organizes every day in the camp.
“Children are always busy during the day. At our hubs we study a lot of classes in which deaf children can find their vocation: business, creativity and art, construction and architecture, cooking. In fact, we do career guidance. We even make ecological furniture from pellets, shoot videos, draw cartoons, write productions. Life was thought out up to the sorting of garbage. All team games are also mixed. Everything is done with sign language translation - productions, games, watching movies and cartoons. Hearing and non-hearing children always work together, and to achieve the result, they must, no matter how cool, find a common language in any way, ”added Daria.
However, it was not possible to achieve results in communication between hearing and non-hearing children. The first such tent camp was not easy for children who were not used to the problem of hearing loss, as well as for the deaf, who were used to communicating exclusively with each other, but not with the hearing.
“We don’t have that now… If they need to say something and agree with each other, they do it in any way. But as before, they used to say "tell THIS ...", meaning the deaf - it no longer happens. For example, we have counselor Lina Deshwar with a prosthesis. Lina still has three fingers on each hand. Children begin to be calm about such things. They understand that it does not change a person. After communicating with each other, others leave here, ”says Daria.
Lina Deshwar -inclusive camp counselor.
Among the sign language interpreters in the camp is Tatiana Radchenko, a teacher at the Kyiv Training and Rehabilitation Center №6 for children with hearing and speech problems.
“I am for reasonable inclusion. If a child with a hearing or speech problem requires special conditions for study and leisure, they need to be created. But if he can live in a normal environment, then why drive him into some framework? Even if such children can study only in specially created conditions, why not rest together? Another thing is that our living environment in Ukraine is absolutely not inclusive, starting with the maternity hospital. where man begins life. And society begins with children. And children should not share whether they hear or not, no matter how they speak. They are all together in the camp. Sometimes it is difficult to find a common language. Nothing. A day or two, and find. Hearing children begin to learn sign language, non-hearing children begin to speak clearly. Children with cochlear implants are not seen as cyborgs. No one speaks in terms of "bad" and "good." We have absolutely everything good here! ”
Tatiana Radchenko
Maryana Lyukhanova, actress of the facial expressions and gestures theater, vice-miss of the world at the beauty contest among the deaf, is sure: an inclusive camp is, above all, for healthy children.
“I have not been taught anything like this since childhood, and there was no question of any inclusion. When I saw children with disabilities, I was scared. I was frightened by the ignorance of what kind of person it is, how to communicate with him. First and foremost, an inclusive summer camp is important for hearing-impaired children who are completely healthy. Depending on what is instilled in a child from childhood, this is how he grows up. The child must have an understanding from childhood that a person with a disability is completely normal. It’s just that he is physically different, ”said Mariana.
Maryana Lyukhanova is in the center
"We make history, children make history, and this camp has already become history! Thank you for a wonderful camp. Good luck next year! ” - Lina Deshvar
Lina Deshvar