My 8th Sensitizing Session in the Journey of Creating Awareness (February 8th 2018)

Awareness is something that can move mountains.  With the rise in the number of mainstream schools I have covered so far, my belief in awareness is getting stronger. In my journey of sensitizing people, today I covered 8^th mainstream school. I went to ST. MARY’S SR. SEC. SCHOOL Jindwari District Ropar. The experience was excellent.

Here i would like to tell you that the Principal of this school wanted me to conduct my Sensitizing session in the 1^st assembly of 2018. But unfortunately because of bad weather and a lot of fog, assemblies didn’t take place for the entire January month. Consequently they had their annual function and again the assemblies were on the back burners.  Finally, yesterday I got his call and he invited me to conduct my session today!

The moment I entered the school campus, like always, my spirit was high and purpose was clear. I made myself comfortable in the reception area. Soon a lady greeted me and asked me about my presence there. I told her to let me know once the Principal or Vice Principal is there. Soon Vice principal sir came and assisted me to the Principal room.  The moment i sat down in the principal room, I could sense the excitement and curiosity in their voice. They explained me about how the session got delayed Because of a streak of unexpected things. They asked me about the arrangements to be made and inquired about my deeds and lifestyle.

Of course, since these are the most crucial and hyped days of ‘Pre-board season’; one or the other fellow was dropping in the principal room for board practical documents and schedules and all. While the principal talked to the fellows entering and leaving the room; i opened my laptop and put it on ready mode.  In some time, principal sir asked me to company him to assembly ground. He assisted me and it took me three to four minutes to reach the assembly ground: all thanks to the long passageway!  He assisted me through the stairs and directed me about the unevenness during the passage. Well, I do talk about these small things during my session write-ups because I feel these are the things that have to be shared. Everybody should know that there are people who take things seriously and in a concerned way. I have always encountered empathetic people in the schools I have covered so far

Getting back to the track, I stood beside the stage for ten minutes. These were the ten minutes that gave me an idea about the environment of that school. There was a beautiful English prayer, news headlines by the students and daily weathercast information. Afterwards Principal gave a humble and kind introduction. He briefed the thousands of students gathered therein about me. Soon the floor was mine. I greeted the students and faculty therein with a cheery ‘Good Morning’. I talked about all the points that I was to mention about in my sensitization session. Here it is important to know that I add up things in the session as per the need of the hour. Generally I follow a pattern that I have made for my sensitizing sessions since the first day. If you want to know in detail about what I do in my sensitization sessions and why I started my pet project of sensitizing schools, you can visit: https://experienceswrappedin.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/an-initiative-to-sensitize-society-about-persons-with-disability/

Getting back to the today’s experience, once the assembly was over, I walked back to the principal room. A few students came up to me and ask me different questions. Some of them wanted to know about the screen reader software I use and others want to know about the special schools and general things. They noted down my phone number and names of the software I use. Interesting part is that one or two of these students asked me about these things because they wanted to convey the shared information to their neighbors and acquaintances that have some or the other disabilities. Indeed, I really salute to this spirit. There was also a sixth class student who had some vision problem. He told me that he couldn’t read the blackboard properly. He gives his exams easily and can read and write but blackboard isn’t his cup of tea.  I told him what was needed and shared my number with him.  Finally Principal Sir praised my presentation and congratulated me for the things I am doing. I had a cup of tea with him and left the principal room quickly by saying: “I am already late for office and I have to take a leave now!” They told me to stay in touch and felt really elated to have me there.

So, this was my 8^th Sensitizing session. If you have any questions or curiosities; always feel free to leave them in the comment area. Good luck and keep reading!

NOTE: If you want to go through:

• What I talk about?
• What I demonstrate?
• What are the areas I cover in my 20 to 25 minute long sensitizing sessions?

You can check out the details of all my sessions on my following blog link:

https://experienceswrappedin.wordpress.com/