2008

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fellow, India Nalin Kumar

[FUN GAMES- 2008 , DEHRADUN]

An endeavor to promote awareness and Inclusion of our athletes with Intellectual Disability.

Fun Games Dehradun ABSTRACT:

As part of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fellowship, offered by the Special Olympics International, this project is done as the fulfillment of the EKS Fellowship Project1. The time requirement for the Project is 250 hours in 6 months timeframe. This project is based on one of my rich experience, learning at the Duke MBA Games2 (Inclusive Fund Raising event). A similar model of the project will be carried out as the Fun Games Dehradun. The aim is to establish Fun Games as a step towards providing Awareness, Inclusion, and Community Resource mobilization.

Author: Nalin Kumar, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Fellow, Special Olympics International, 2008
PROJECT DESCRIPTION To provide equal opportunities, for athletes to integrate in the main stream society, through the medium of sports. The athletes and non athletes will get an opportunity to share the abilities and learn from each other. Project Objectives The objectives were:1) To create awareness about Special Olympics movement in Dehradun 2) To create an inclusive environment for the Special Olympics Athletes. Rationale The concept of unified sports came from my recent experience with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver (EKS) Fellowship in USA (3 Months). EKS Fellowship program was created to make leaders in the Special Olympics movement. I realized that there was equal participation of persons with Intellectual Disability in the so called main stream society. This inclusion was seen in the schools, sports and work place. There was no discrimination on the basis of disability towards the athletes. As per WHO India there are more than 31 Million children and adults with Intellectual Disability. Special Olympics Bharat3 is the National Program based in Delhi, is accredited by Special Olympics International. This event was conducted in Dehradun the capital of the Uttarakhand. Special Olympics Bharat-Uttarakhand has more than 400 children and adults with Intellectual Disabilities participating in their program. The population of Uttarakhand according to the Indian Government Census4 2001 is
1

http://info.specialolympics.org/Special+Olympics+Public+Website/English/Press_Room/Press_Rele ases/EKS+Fellowship+Program.htm

http://mbaa.fuqua.duke.edu/mbagames/

watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjqJ_St2EcQ

www.specialolympicsbharat.org

Source: Population Census of India, Office of the Registrar General, India.2001

8.5 Million. Dehradun has population of 4, 47,808 (2001). The population of athletes with Intellectual Disability/Mental Retardation in Dehradun is more than 13,434 persons. With the declaration of UN Convention on Rights of persons with Disabilities and the ratification by the Indian Government, there is a lot of focus on accessibility and inclusion. The Government of India is putting forth effort through different programs like the National Literacy Mission ( Sarva Sikhsa Abhiyan), making public buildings accessible and there is focusing on employment of persons with Disability. Several of these programs lack the equal participation of the Athletes with Intellectual Disabilities. The project will promote the Inclusion of the SO athletes within the mainstream society through the medium of sports. Methodology Participants Participating Teams 10 different schools in Dehradun. The participating schools were :1. Welham Boys School, 5 Circular road, Dehradun 2. Sophia High School, Nashville road, Dehradun 3. Ivy Memorial High School, Pream Nagar, Dehradun 4. Sri. Guru Ram Rai, vasant vihar , Dehradun 5. Ambawati Doon Valley Inter college, panditwari, Dehradun 6. Gautam International, Indra nagar, Dehradun 7. Gandhi Intermediate College, Dehradun 8. C.N.I Girls Inter college, Dehradun 9. M.K.P Inter College, Dehradun 10. Phool Chand Nari Shilp Mandir, Dehradun Students = 80 Athletes= 50 The participating athletes (Children and adults with Intellectual Disability) were from different special schools:1. Rapheal, mohini road, Dehradun 2. Golden key Asha School, Birpur, Dehradun 3. Jyoti School, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand Each team was composed of 8 school students and attached with them 4 athletes with Intellectual Disability. In this way there would be 10 teams with equal number of 12 participants in each. - Foot ball Skill level- Each team comprised of 12 team members, students from the normal schools had got 1 strike to goal and a special athlete was provided 3 shots to goal. - 400 meters relay- Each team will comprise of 3 students and 1 athlete and they have to compete the 400 meters relay. The placement of the athletes in each team was at the equal position. - Tug of War- Each team consisted of 12 athletes. The shortest timing team was considered as the winner. This event has helped us to increase the community participation and strengthen the SO movement in Dehradun.

Volunteers Volunteer Training

All participating volunteers, students and organizing team members had undergone the training program on the Protective Behavior Training5. Information about Special Olympics Bharat, concept behind the games was explained to the participants. Job description of the volunteers was explained to all the participants before the games. All volunteers had attended compulsory volunteer training before volunteering at Fun Games . Total volunteers= 60 Full day volunteers - Escort athletes- 10 Volunteers - Escort students- 20 - Games conduction- 10 Volunteers - Venue setup- 10 Volunteers - Awards distribution/Meal Distribution - 7 Volunteers - Volunteer registration(help desk)- 3 Volunteers Fund raising towards the games conduction Donors from various parts of India and USA had supported this project with their valuable contribution towards the games. IMS (Management training institute) had supported this event with advertisement with the banners, backdrop and Invitation cards. Thanks to Ms. Cristie call, a coach with SO Oregon. She had supported the event by providing the attire for the event. Event photography and videos was sponsored by Mama photo studio. Elora Melting moments, Rajpur road, Dehradun had sponsored the meals. Attire for the games White- Volunteers Base color- Students Dark blue- athletes Red- Medical Volunteers Yellow- Games Management Team members.

Special Olympics International: Protective Behavior Training

Volunteers at the Fun Games

Event SpecificsOver more than 100 spectators and 210 participants (in different roles) had joined us on the event. This event was inaugurated by the chief guest Mr. Ashok Kumar, IPS, Inspector General of Police, Garhwal Range, Uttarakhand. President of Special Olympics Bharat- Uttarakhand: (Retd.) Admiral Vasant Koppiar, Area Director: (Retd.) Col. Rana, Sports Director- (Rtd.) Brig. Acharya, Mr. Malhotra where present on the occasion. Chairman and directors of participating Special Schools (Rapheal, Asha School, Jyoti School) and Principals of the participating schools and where also present. Among some other distinguished guest was Brig. Sinha from Raphael Ryder Cheshire , officials from Doon school and officials from other NGOs from Dehradun.

4X 100 Meters Relay

Football skill level Recognition to athletes schools, volunteers and Sponsors All the athletes and students were provided participation certificates and gifts. The schools and the sponsors for the event were provided Momentos for their support towards the successful conduction of the games.

Assessment (Findings from the pre- event, post event questionnaire)

A feedback questionnaire was provided to all the participants in the games, both prior to the event and after the event completion. The results from the pre- event questionnaire filled by the students shows that amongst the 80 students only 4 of the participating students had information about Intellectual Disability as these students were from an Inclusive school. 68 of the students had mentioned that they would like to participate, volunteer and coach in future Special Olympics event, non of the participating students had volunteered in past. A finding also reveals that all these participating students had no information on any Inclusive games. Amongst the 60 volunteers all of them were interested to volunteer in Special Olympics in future events. The questionnaire filled by the volunteers from various parts of Dehradun, showed that amongst the 60 volunteers just 9 of them had exposure to information on Intellectual Disability. 15 Volunteers had previously participated for a social cause. 15 of the volunteers had past experience of Inclusive games. The cause behind volunteering as mentioned by most of the volunteers was to gain exposure to Special Olympics and to support the Inclusion of the athletes with Intellectual Disability. The post-event feedback forms showed that Fun Games was a successful event. Majority of the suggestion were that these games need to be conducted at a larger scale, more publicity towards these games need to be provided by the medium of Television. Some of the participants in the study suggested that these games need to be conducted in each school to make it more popular. However it was also found that their needs to be more planning done towards executing the games.

Fun Games had a substantial impact on the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities. The project had impacted positively on at four of the QOL
domains (or had an exceptional impact on one of them). The following IASSID consensus quality of life domains was used as a common frame of reference to describe quality of life. Emotional well-being: safety, stable and predictable environments, positive feedback, self confidence/feeling of value, absence of physical/sexual abuse or bullying/teasing Interpersonal relations: affiliations, affection, intimacy, sex, friendships, interactions Material well-being: ownership, possessions, employment Personal development: education, habilitation, purposive activities, assistive technology Physical well-being: health care, mobility, wellness, nutrition, Self-determination: choices, personal control, decisions, personal goals, independence Social inclusion: welcoming social networks/support systems, integrated environments, participation Rights: privacy, ownership, absence of unfair discrimination, barrier free environments. Fun Games satisfies the multiple outcomes could be adopted by the SOB, as a National Games, further. Business schools and other educational institutions can now take an independent initiative towards the games conduction, as it is being conducted by the Duke University students. The University, schools, college can conduct this game now, and all the Finance generated, will go towards the development of the Local SO program.

Press Coverage: - All leading English and Hindi newspapers from the state had published articles on Fun Games.

The Fun Day (Fun Games- 2008)