Description
Deaf children belong to a group at risk due to communicative and informational barriers. Lack of information is a cause for distrust, feeling of loneliness, inferiority and misunderstanding. The goal of the project is to eliminate the threats to deaf children stemming from communicative and informational limitations through prevention and intervention activities. 100 children with hearing disabilities and 100 hearer children will be involved in activities developing their communication skills that will decrease the risk of segregation and expression of discrimination and hate-speech. An added value will be the involvement of a new community of hearer peers, use of participative approaches of children with hearing disabilities through 10 new activities and education of 100 experts and NGO employees. The partner' Ål Folkehøyskole og kurssenter for døve' will supply the know-how and education. The partner Stiftelsen Signo will offer the experience with sign language.
Summary of project results
Deaf children are a group at risk due to the existence of communication and information barriers in their lives. Lack of information is a cause of distrust, and feelings of loneliness, inferiority, and misunderstanding. The project results will remain sustainable through receiving direct feedback about the social needs of children and youth with hearing disabilities as well as healthy people in the field of communication. The objective of the project was to eliminate the threats to deaf children stemming from communicational and informational limitations through prevention and intervention activities. According to the UN Convention, it is required to create an open and friendly environment for children and youth with disabilities. This project actively contributed to meeting this requirement. The public administration authorities are interested in holding workshops in the field of overcoming the communication barriers between deaf and hearing people. The outcome of the project Children with hearing disabilities and hearing children were involved in activities developing their communication skills which decrease the risks of segregation, discrimination and hate-speech. The added value of the project was the involvement of a new community of hearing peers, the use of participative approaches to children with hearing disabilities, and education of experts and NGO employees. The planned outcome was fully met. Main outputs: 100 people with hearing disabilities and 298 healthy individuals; 1 hate speech mitigation project; 3 NGOs using participative approach in their work with deaf people; 1 new community involved; 11 new activities/295 people involved; 100 experts and parents involved in training; 2 partnership organisations from donor countries Beneficiaries were involved mainly through experiencing quality audiological work and regular speech therapies with experts. The donor partnership achieved The partner Ål Folkehøyskole og kurssenter for døve supplied the know-how and training. The partner Stiftelsen Signo offered their experience with using the sign language.
Summary of bilateral results
Ål Folkehøyskole og kurssenter for døve is an institution with the longest history of taking care of children with hearing disabilities in Norway.The project activity aimed to exchange information, theoretical, and practical knowledge in the area of work with children and youth with hearing disabilities. The word “communication” is one of the key terms of the Signo organization. Sign language and other alternative ways are used as means of communication within the organization. The basic value is to understand and be understood. The project activity aimed to exchange information, theoretical and practical knowledge in the area of work with children and youth with hearing disabilities. Experts from both organizations participated in training organized in Norway. The goal of the short educational visit was to gain know-how for further work and increase the quality of interventional and prevention programs in Slovakia. The visits were a few days long; knowledge and experience were shared about the work with the target group, including key adults. The planned program called “Help with no fear of understanding” focused on the following: 1) Presentation of the organization and participation of deaf workers; 2) Cooperation between the organization, educational institutions, and social services facilities; 3) Advising families of children with hearing disabilities; 4) Participation of family in the development of communication skills of children with hearing disabilities; 5) Presentation of courses for families having a member with impaired hearing. The aim of the program was to gain know-how from Norwegian organizations. The outputs were included in the implementation of project activities by the applicant. The obtained know-how was used in the process of improving the quality of the interventions provided by the organization. The expert cooperation in the frame of this project has the ambition to contribute to strengthening the started bilateral relationship as well as the cooperation in the area of services provided to children and youth at risk.