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16.09.2019 Education

Tech Era To Organise Digital Inclusion Program For Children & Youth With Disabilities

By Naa Adei Kotey
Tech Era To Organise Digital Inclusion Program For Children  Youth With Disabilities
16.09.2019 LISTEN

Tech Era in partnership with Stepping Stones Sen & Disability Resource Center and British Council Ghana is set to organize its pioneer one-month Digital Inclusion Training and Assessment Program (DITAP) for youth with special needs with the theme: Recognising Ability through Digital Inclusion.

This will take place from the 5th of October, 2019 to 14th December, 2019 (Saturdays Only) at the British Council in Accra. This opportunity is open to youth with autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, learning disabilities, and physical disabilities.

The main aim of this program is to train youth with special needs to bridge gaps in communication and increase access to information using digital technology. Tech Era will also use this technological engagement as a tool to assess the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of the participants while recommending a clear future plan for the participants.

This program will use a person-centered approach as a strategy for delivery. This will allow Tech Era’s well-trained service team to render one on one support to the participants based on their identified strengths and learning abilities. At the end of the program, participants should be able to overcome communication challenges and access to information using various technologies as an enabler.

The specific areas include skill development in the use of smartphones (text messaging (Whatsapp & other applications), sending audio messages, sending emails, making calls, using text to speech & speech to text applications), and laptops (keyboarding skills, graphic design, 3D drawings) for accessing online information (google search & youtube). With such knowledge, people with special needs will be able to communicate easily with parents and guardians whenever the need arises.

According to Derick Omari, the Founder & Executive Director of Tech Era, “the motivation for this project stems from a place to leave no one behind. Digital inclusion especially communication has become a part of our daily living that we cannot do without. So why do we put our wards, friends, siblings, nieces, and nephews in danger by depriving them of this valuable privilege just because of their condition?” He adds that, in his experience of learning and working with students with special needs, he has found technology to be the most reliable way of bridging the seemingly impossible gap between individuals with disabilities and the rest of the world. So that is what his organization is committed to doing.

With the goal of providing a holistic experience for the participants, Tech Era is working with a partner who brings on board over 20 years of experience in clinical social work, psychological and education for children, young people and their families in the UK. With Masters from Edinburgh University, Mrs. Vee Agyare Nelson will conduct daily assessments over a period of one month using this engagement to develop an IEP and individualized assessments that provide clear future paths of the participants for the parents.

Enrollment is open to youth with special needs living in Accra between the ages of 13 - 21 who have fine motor skills and the ability to understand and have expressive language (ability to communicate [sign language included]).

Spots for enrollment are limited. Registration is currently open and closes on 16th September 2019. To register, Kindly visit www.techera-gh.org/ditap or call +233 (0)302 294 4570.

Tech Era, an award-winning non-profit in Ghana works to ensure that individuals living with disabilities are not left behind. It has imparted about 1000 young people with disabilities with technology capacity and competency building programs over its 3 years in operation. After winning several awards and the recent honor from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2018, Tech Era has increased its efforts to go beyond physical disabilities to working with children with autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and children with learning disabilities.

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