Inclusion for People with Disabilities in Colombia

On November 11th, we did the workshop of inclusion and accessibility for people with disabilities in the Educative Park San Juan de Mata, in the municipality of Maceo- Antioquia. This workshop was held by Yudy Alvarez, the expert trainer, and was directed to 13 members of ASOPEDISMA, the Association of People with Disabilities in Maceo.

The topics of this workshop were the history and awareness of disability, the legal framework of it in the national and international arena, and the main tools and technological solutions for people with disabilities. This workshop had two moments: in the first part, there was a talk; in the second part, there was a practical exercise. The workshop was 2 hours long, and after these activities the attendants asked questions about the topic.

This experience was possible thanks to an alliance between MAKAIA and EPM Foundation, with its program “ICT with no barriers”. According to the comments of the people who joined us, they were very interested and participated actively during the workshop. They would also like to have more information about these spaces that foster the visibility of people in this condition, and the legal aspects of the legal framework in disability.

Thanks to your generous support, we are able to do these trainings and help more people with disabilities; we would like to kindly invite you to share this project with your family and friends, and let them know the work we are doing with people in this condition.

Links:

• Nokia End of Year Giving Campaign- MAKAIA

MAKAIA and EPM Foundation, under their "ICT with no barriers" program, will train people with disabilities and social trainers in municipalities in rural Antioquia. Antioquia is the State where the city of Medellín is located. The local rural communities face great disparities in terms of the access to information, basic services and development. These challenges are unfortunately higher for people with disabilities.

This initiative is usually implemented in the Medellín Metropolitan Region, but with your support MAKAIA will be able to take this training to rural communities in the State of Antioquia. The training has a strong component in laws, ICT and the fair treatment of people with disability. 

The expert trainer, Yudy Alvarez, has limited vision so knows first-hand what it means to have a disability and how important is that all people have access to knowledge and information.

Three trainings will take place during October and November 2015. The first one will be done in Yarumal, a municipality that has been greatly affected by the Colombian conflict and that is not reached by many social services.

We have partnered with the local Disability Network and with a local NGO that supports youth with disability. We will train 20 youth and also trainers, so social workers, teachers and librarians will also be prepared to train people with disabilities in schools, libraries and other community centers.

The topics in which the training will be conducted are: internet security, digital literacy, web accessibility, mobile devices and apps for people with disability,

Thank you again for your continued support and we look forward to telling you about the results of the trainings.

Thank you

MAKAIA Team

Links:

• Yudys Story

A few months ago, here at MAKAIA, we started a strategic planning process looking forward to adapting to the fast growth we have had during the last year. That situation has meant big changes inside and outside the organization but also is bringing great opportunities for us. We have a very excited time coming ahead!

So, to become better in what we do, we have been looking for new partnerships that allow us to keep working for the inclusion of people with disabilities in Colombia, in a bigger scale. That’s how we ended being part of an awesome project with Corporación Siempre Presente. What is it about? About empower youth Colombians with disabilities through the use of ICT.

Siempre Presente is an organization aimed to support young people part of the cheering crowd of one of the most important local soccer teams in the country: Atlético Nacional. Most of them are from at risk families and the poorest neighborhoods in Medellín.

Cheering crowds have a violent history that we are ready to change with your unconditional help. We want to work, hand by hand, with Siempre Presente and give those kids the tools and resources they need to become leaders of their community and build a better future.

Wait for our microprojects, they are coming soon! And remember, the next 15^th of July is BONUS DAY so please feel free to share our work among your friends and family as you visit our Facebook, Twitter and website.

THANK YOU AGAIN for your support!

2015 has been, so far, a great year for us and, of course, for our beneficiaries. Thanks to your help we have been working on projects related with helping youth and people with disabilities get a better way of living through the ITC in this period.

Right now, we are getting ready to face a new part of this excited project.  As part of our preparation for the next rounds of the training sessions to improve the access to information and inclusion for people with disabilities in rural libraries in the region of Antioquia, our project leaders, Sara Lizarralde, Camila Urbina and Ana Isabel Restrepo, participated in a workshop, hosted by Margarita Maria Vallejo, from the organization Portafolio Verde (Green Portfolio in English).

For what? Well, the meeting was aimed for our team to learn responsible and friendly practices with the environment as well as recognize the role of public libraries in the appropriation of such practices. Our leaders will replicate their new knowledge in the communities they work with, especially among the people with disabilities.

Your generosity is giving us an awesome opportunity to keep working for the inclusion of people with disabilities, this time in social matters as the caring of the environment. We do not have words to THANK YOU enough.  

But is not over yet.  Along with the workshop, during the past months, the second round of training related to the project, product of a partnership between MAKAIA and the Library Network of Medellín, a program of the EPM Foundation, were held in Concordia and Támesis, two municipalities of Antioquia. We are hoping to have a couple more sessions in 2015 and we are sure we can do it with your support. THANKS again for your big help! 

We had a great year. 2014 not only gave us the opportunity to train and give new opportunities to more than 700 beneficiaries, but also brought us a great allies and wonderful donors to continue helping people with disabilities in Colombia to build a better future.  

Thanks to your generosity and along with one of our greatest allies, the Medellin Library Network, we conducted three training sessions aimed to improve access to information and inclusion for people with disabilities in rural libraries in the region of Antioquia. The three small municipalities of Concordia, Carmen de Viboral and Tamesis, were chosen to receive an awareness and methodology training sessions, accessible hardware and multimedia designed to help people with disabilities use ICT tools.  

Around 15 people attended the workshops in each municipality -42 total-. People, who were motivated by the training session, workshops and the new tools available so they can help people with disabilities in their community to gain better access information, communicate more effectively and improve their social and economic opportunities.

The training session was directed to the librarians, community leaders, workers and volunteers from social organizations that work directly with people with disabilities, enriching their knowledge of technological tools and low cost inclusion solutions to foster development and growth in their community.

Sara, our trainer said about the three training sessions “This experience has allow me to witness how with the right motivation the community begins to place more importance on the inclusion of people with disabilities, specially libraries play an important role in this transformation because they become special places of inclusion for everyone to join in” She also heighted how every single one of the attendees finished the training session with a renewed energy to help more people with disabilities in their community and to use technology to change their lives.

She was specially moved by the experience of one women in the Concordia Municipal Library, during one of the disability awareness exercises, where all the attendees were asked to place a blindfold in their eyes and then eat a snack, the woman was visibly moved and crying. When our trainer Sara approached her she told her she did a lot of work with people with visual disabilities and she was also going blind herself and if was a very intense emotional experience to have a true glimpse into the reality of the people she cared for and her own future. The women also expressed how thankful she was to have the aid an opportunities for people with disabilities in the library not only for the people she helped but for her in the future.

Thanks to your generous support and the support of the Medellin Library Network we will continue working with each library individually giving them training in creative and innovative methodologies they can replicate with their community, and also helping them create and action plan for inclusion in the library with the tools and knowledge they receive.