We had our fundraising carnival on 24th August 2019! The carnival aimed to increase the awareness of people with diverse abilities and raise funds for the Singapore Disability Sports Council as well as the EtonHouse Community Fund, which supports children from low income families. Alongside the all-time carnival favourites, the carnival also featured five interactive experiences that offered the opportunity for participants to experience and see through the lens of people with different needs.
As the children had a very meaningful and informative trip to Dialogue in the Dark, we wanted to share the experience with our guests. Each guest put on a blindfold and went into a darkened room where we simulated an experience of going to the beach and Vivocity from our school, taking different modes of transport such as the Sentosa shuttle bus and the monorail. A sensorial guide led them as they followed the tactile pathway created by our Nursery 2 children to help them stay on track.
People with disabilities have equal rights to engage in sports and competitive games. The experiential game, Shoot Some Hoops, requires participants to throw a basketball into hoops while sitting on a chair. Engaging in this experience would give you a glimpse into the life of an athlete who has lost the use of his hands but not his ability nor his will to live life to the fullest!
The third experience, Art Jamming, allows participants to experience creating an artwork as a family using their toes to control the paintbrush. People who are not able to use their hands, use their toes with the same dexterity as people with hands use their fingers. The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists is a worldwide organization that represents artists who either paint with their mouth or their feet.
The fourth experience, Jumbled Up, aims to allow participants to see through the eyes of someone with Dyslexia as they attempt to interpret a piece of writing that is designed to simulate the feeling of reading with Dyslexia. Once they have “decoded” the task, they were encouraged to complete it as a family!
Our last experience is Pong It. When the use of hands is not an option, people develop an impressive ability to use other parts of their body, such as the mouth, to complete daily tasks. The participants had to first get a cup across the line without using their hands and then get 3 ping pong balls into any of the 3 holes by blowing it!
We also invited a few of the Nursery 2 children to be curators and share their learning experience with our guests.
Moving forward, the children will be working on their action plan: creating a Picture Exchange Communication System in every class, and a wheelchair-accessible point for wheelchair users to come to our school. Stay tuned!
