Description
Music is an art accessible to visually impaired children, and therefore, it presents them a way of sharing and integrating with their peers but, in Portugal, this practice is seldom used. This project will develop cooperation and mutual support activities to mitigate inequalities in children and young people’s access to information and culture. With appropriate measures, these children will be provided an opportunity to develop their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, for their own benefit and for the enrichment of Society. The project will examine and adapt experiments already conducted in this area, creating an integrated programme that can be used by music schools throughout the country. Another part of the project relates to the respect for difference and to tolerance – children and young people with normal vision will be made aware of the difficulties facing their colleagues with visual disabilities.
Summary of project results
Currently, most of the educational institutions with children with special educational needs in Portugal include music education in their school curricula for therapeutic purposes. Working with music fosters the development of psychomotor, social and emotional skills; with this work being essential for the rehabilitation of these children, even if this, ultimately, overshadows the improvement of the musical performance. On the other hand, this also means that a blind student which decides to pursue his or hers artistic development need to find a set of alternatives that will necessarily involve music schools for sighted children, whose teachers are generally not prepared to deal with the specific needs of the blind. This project addressed the need for improved access to information and culture, where it comes to visually impaired children and youths - in Portugal, the use of music as a tool for integration and empowerment is not yet as widespread as it would be necessary. The project provided an opportunity for these children to develop their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, for their own benefit and for the enrichment of Society, and crucially, developed cooperation and mutual support activities that are needed to address this inequality. It examined and adapted experiments already conducted in this area, creating an integrated programme to be used by music schools throughout the country. Also, this project included an awareness-raising component, aimed primarily to children and young people with normal vision. A total of 20 students and 25 teachers were trained within the scope of the project, between November 2014 and September 2015. Shows performed by these youths were attended by about 1300 people. The promoter, as well as the other Portuguese NGO involved (the Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted) and other participating organisations (the Faculty of Human Motricity and a music school) deemed the project to be effective in building capacity for addressing this need. After the project’s conclusion, the materials produced within its scope were disseminated and the participating students were invited to perform other shows. The promoter reported a meaningful impact for visually impaired children and youths, and Portuguese society overall; and the project carried on in the 2015/16 school year, with a new sponsor.
Summary of bilateral results