Inclusive Youth Centre
The Inclusive Youth Center (IYC) brings together both disabled and non-disabled young people in an inclusive youth organisation to create an enabling environment for young people. It aims to promote the rights of youth with disabilities towards their integration into mainstream society at the same time as educating non-disabled youth to become advocates for integration and to speak up for the rights of their counterpart young persons with disabilities. The Philippine Council for Cheshire Homes for the Disabled (PhilCOCHED) formally organized the IYC headquarters at their secretariat in Cubao, Quezon City last December 6, 2006 following the success of the Young Voices project initiated in 2005. The Inclusive Youth Center (IYC) has a great privilege to be recognized as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) in the Philippines in 2007 and in the South East Asia Region in 2008.
Current IYC programs and services include disability advocacy, employment opportunities, literacy and numeracy training, community development and leadership training. Specific activities IYC are engaged in include a wide range of community and school-based activities such as the recruitment and training of disabled and non-disabled youth volunteers as leaders, the school-to-school campaign and work with local employers to encourage inclusion and job placements. In addition, the IYC organizes sports tournaments and workshops to promote the rights of youth with disabilities among policy-makers, teachers, parents, and the community in general. At present, there are 137 IYC members (97 of which are PWDs) in 5 different chapters. The members are aged 15-30 years old, include a range of students, professionals, out of school youth, and unemployed youth and are all young persons committed to participate in public and civic affairs for the rights and dignity of disadvantaged youth.
IYC believes that through their advocacy and community activities they can achieve the following objectives:
- Promote social awareness on disability issues
- Inspire other people and build self-confidence among excluded persons with disabilities (PWDs)
- Change the negative attitudes towards PWDs
- Achieve active participation of PWDs in the community
- Capacity building for all young members and youth in general regardless of their ability or situation
| Cynthia, an IYC staff member together with a child with a disability singing a song after discussing the rights of persons with disabilities shown on illustration paper. |
| Disability Campaign, The Youth Way By: Virgie Rabino, IYC / YV Project Coordinator
The Inclusive Youth Centre (IYC), a program of the Philippine Council of Cheshire Homes for the Disabled (PhilCOCHED) has been playing a major role in changing attitudes towards disability. This has been realised through conducting school-to-school campaigns, a basketball exhibition, dancing on wheels, a puppet show and back to back orientations on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) with students, teachers, principals and administrators. During a visit to an elementary school as part of the school-to-school campaign, students aged 7-16 years old were asked their views and perceptions towards the disabled.
Here were some of the answers given by pupils during interviews conducted prior to the campaign: - “The moment I see disabled people, I feel pity for them because of their situation.” - “I pity them because they cannot walk”
Following the meeting, pupils expressed the following views:- “I was amazed because despite being disabled they can still survive in their lives” - “I want to help them” - “When I see disabled, I have to admit that for me they are very dirty and yucky but when I’ve known them through this school to school, I realized their capabilities, and my perceptions have changed.”
It is therefore evident that through advocacy campaigns such as the school-to-school visits, we can feel confident that slowly, peoples’ attitudes towards persons with disabilities (PWDs) are changing in a positive light. One of the guiding principles of the IYC program is that we start awareness campaigns with very young children to change their attitudes towards PWDs. By doing so, this will ensure that future generations will become more tolerant and accepting of PWDs which will lead us on the road to ensuring equality of opportunities in all aspects of their lives. |