TOGETHERNESS

AND BELONGING 9
This module covers
the following information:

Togetherness and belonging

Reflection on changing your
individual beliefs
Family and community inclusion
Inclusion in Services
Group action plan
Sharing emotions and feelings

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 TOGETHERNESS
AND BELONGING
Materials
Paper, pens, flipcharts, materials 9.1 – 9.16.

Make enough copies so that everyone can take 1-2 pictures home.

Video of James the Investor (7-minute film from Uganda, translated into
English), or photo-story Materials 9.1 (a-f).

You are welcome to translate this film into your local language or find a
suitable alternative that shows positive examples of inclusion. If you cannot
show a film, use the ‘photo-story’.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=nZ2VlrqnWzM

• https://www.ugent.be/pp/orthopedagogiek/en/news-events/news/
obuntubulamu.htm

Facilitator Tips:
• ‘Togetherness and Belonging’ is intended as a very flexible module. It can be
included as part of the Ubuntu, Early Intervention and Juntos programmes, or
used as a module on its own. There is no ‘one size fits all’ for addressing stigma
and discrimination experienced by children with disabilities and their caregivers.
There will be important differences across countries and contexts.

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 • There can also be differences between urban and rural settings, so you will need
to tailor this module to your community.
• We provide a variety of stories that you can use. We strongly recommend that
you add or replace with 1-2 examples from your own context. Be aware of
safeguarding issues, so that you don’t put any child/caregiver at risk. We suggest
you do not use real names and photos.
• We also encourage you to include some examples from other countries, as it is
useful for people to understand that ‘they are not alone’ and that facing stigma
and discrimination occurs everywhere.
• This module can be run in 3-4 hours but can also take much longer. In Burkina
Faso they ran the session over 2 days!
• The main approaches we use are low cost. However, if you have additional
resources, you might be able to do some of the suggested extras. E.g. making
a participatory video.
• Although this module is focussed on caregivers, service providers will often
have low levels of knowledge and awareness. We strongly recommend that
some training is provided to service providers as part of a more
comprehensive programme.
• This module may bring up some very sensitive discussions. We recommend that
you ensure that you know what you will do if there are any concerns about the
safety of a child or caregiver, which arise from the session. Refer to your own
organisation’s guidelines on this, so that you know the best process for this.

‘Safeguarding’ means taking action and having policies to ensure that

children and vulnerable adults are safe and to promote their wellbeing.
Research shows that these children, and mothers, are commonly more
vulnerable to abuse. As a team you will need to be clear about your own
procedures.
An example is of a mother attending a parent support meeting with her
young daughter Chipo. When she got home her husband was angry
and refused to let her in the house because she had talked about Chipo
and the social problems they were facing. The mother was very worried
that he would take Chipo to the village and that she would be killed as
her husband had not accepted Chipo’s condition, and believed that it
was caused by evil spirits. The local organisation that was running the
training immediately advised the mother to go to the Department of
Social Affairs; they quickly convened a meeting with the father. He was
ordered not to take Chipo out of the capital city where they lived, and the
local organisation is now supporting BOTH the mother and the child and
monitoring the situation closely.

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 REFLECTION ON
CHANGING YOUR
INDIVIDUAL BELIEFS
Icebreaker
Draw/create a line from one end of the room to the other. Explain that
one end of the room is ‘Strongly Agree’, and the other end of the room is
‘Strongly Disagree’. Read the following statement and then ask everyone to
move to a part of the line that reflects how they feel. Emphasise there is no
right or wrong. Give everyone time to reflect, and then ask the group to put
themselves somewhere on the line from Agree to Disagree.

“I have changed how I feel about being a caregiver of a child with a disability
over time.”

Ask for 2-3 volunteers to explain what changes there have been and what
brought about this change in their individual beliefs and feelings. “What do
you think have been important ‘ingredients’ in making this change?”

Show the group material 0.1. Just like important ingredients are used to
create a delicious meal, there are important ‘ingredients’ that can bring about
change in people’s attitudes, beliefs and feelings. Draw a picture of a plate
on a flipchart and add the ingredients as people speak about them.

Ask
“What ‘ingredients’ make a delicious ‘togetherness and belonging’ meal?”

Ensure the following points are emphasised:

1. Learning new information – this addresses myths and fears.

2. Making contact with other families/caregivers who have a disability.

3. Being more visible in your community.

4. Understanding that you and your children have rights, which include the
right to be treated with dignity. BUT you, your family, and your community,
also have a responsibility to help achieve those rights.

Facilitator Tips:
Keep this picture of the plate on the wall throughout the session and as more ideas
come up, add them to the picture. Encourage everyone to think about ingredients in
togetherness and belonging more broadly in their community through the session.

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 FAMILY AND
COMMUNITY INCLUSION
Facilitator Tips:
• We are looking to transform society’s view of disability. We understand from
learning from others that this can take a long time.
• Do not expect caregivers to be responsible for challenging stigma and
discrimination on their own. Encourage ways to include ‘allies’ (friends, ‘disability
champions’) who can help with this change. For example, encourage your group
to think of people in their community who can help them ‘champion’ the rights
of people with disabilities.
• Be as creative as possible, build on the strengths of your group, and your local
community. You could involve art, local craft skills, drama, film, and music to
deliver key messages within their community.

Activity 1
“James the Investor” video
Show the film, or pictures form the photo story around the group.

After watching ask the following questions and discuss in the whole group.
As people describe things that helped a more inclusive experience, add the
ideas to the meal on the flipchart.

This module is all about inclusion.

Inclusion is being a part of what everyone else is, being welcomed and
embraced as someone who belongs. Inclusion means that everyone can
use their own abilities as member of their community (www.kidstogether.
org).
Inclusion is the process whereby every person who wishes to, can access
and participate fully in all aspects of an activity or service in the same way

”
as any other member of the community (CBM Barriers to Inclusion 2013).

Ask
“How does this relate to your experience in your community?”
Encourage everyone to talk about similarities and differences.

“What do you think helped James to be included?”

“Often mothers are the main caregivers and play an important role. In this
case, we can see a father being involved. What can we learn from this?”

“What do you think of James? If you showed this film to people in your family

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 or community, what do you think they will think of James?”
Explain that James in a great role model, and that we know that is important
to help change people opinions.

“What are the lessons we can learn about promoting a more inclusive
school environment?“
Ask everyone to consider teachers, friends or peers, environment.

“Overall, what are the most important lessons we can learn for your situation
from this film about promoting more ‘Togetherness and Belonging’ in your
family and community, and school?“

Facilitator Tips:
• In many cases caregivers may not feel that they have that power (yet!) to
challenge views, and that this is a journey you are taking them on.
• Understand that through giving people education, you can provide them with
better knowledge (we can call this ‘information for the head’).
• It is also important sometimes to make people feel differently (we can call this
‘information for the heart’).
• Contact, direct (e.g. encouraging positive interactions between the people in the
community and people with disabilities) or indirect (e.g. though a film or radio),
allows us to engage with others, and we know this can be an important way to
break down myths and change social and cultural norms.

Activity 2
Our stories
Divide into 3 groups and provide each group with one set of stories (we
sometimes call these case studies).

Each set contains at least:

• A story from families

• A story from the community

• A story from health and education services

Togetherness and Togetherness and Togetherness and

belonging within belonging at the belonging in the health
the family. community level. and education services.
Example story: Steven Example story: John Example story: Blessing

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 Ask
Ask everyone to discuss in their small groups:

“What do you think of the story? Has something similar happened in your
family/community? If so, do you want to share?”

“Are the child and parent being treated with respect and dignity? What helped
improve the situation in stories that were positive?”

“What advice would you give to improve the situation in stories that were less
positive? What other people could or should be involved?”

“Do you think this could work in your community?”

Facilitator Tips:
Stay in groups of three for this activity to encourage everyone to voice their thoughts
and discuss together in smaller groups. This can be less intimidating than discussing
all together in a large group and gives and opportunity for those who are quieter
to speak.

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 Activity 3
Role Play
In groups of three, ask everyone to choose one image (from the selection in
the previous page) that they could take home and share with someone in the
family.

Conduct a short role play about what you would say to the family member.

One person acts as the caregiver, one person is the family member, and a
third person is a friend and/or someone they would identify can help them
with the discussion.

Here are some questions to think about in preparing your role play:
“What do you want to be able to say to some of your family members?
Who could help you with this discussion? As the father or mother- in-law,
what do you think about what you have been told? “

Facilitator Tips:
Support the groups in the role play. These may bring up some difficult issues, so
also encourage some humour and fun in the acting out the role play. We know that
humour can play an important role in helping to talk about difficult issues.

Ask
“Who are the key ‘gatekeepers’ in your family and in your community?“
These are people who have influence; they can make obstacles but can also
be people who can help you.

“Is there anyone in your family or community who can be a useful ally
(friend who is a good champion for disability) and can help with some of
these discussions?“

Some examples might include: a health worker, a teacher, a special needs

teacher, the head of a local woman’s group, someone you can trust, someone
who can help your group, someone who has power in your community,
someone who is listened to.

Record some of these ideas on a flipchart – and come back to them when you
make the Action Plan (at the end of this session).

What causes the negative attitudes that the other people have? What are the
triggers to negative attitudes in your own context?

Discuss possible solutions to address this. If your group does not come up
with some feasible ideas, here are some ideas from other groups around the
world that have aimed to ‘transform’ views on disability. You can discuss how
suitable these ideas would be in your context.

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 • Invite family/community members for a ‘Celebration day’ and/or a social
activity with your group.

• Conduct some awareness raising with local traditional healers, including

faith leaders.

• Plan a celebration for Father’s Day/International Day of the Child /special

day in your community.

• Look at different ways of engaging with siblings, and fathers.

• Share educational resources with the family.

• Engage with local community radio to tell your stories.

• Link into traditional ceremonies in your community where you can

promote more awareness raising. For example, families organising a
coffee ceremony for community members in Ethiopia, or Durbar meetings
(traditional community meetings) in Ghana.

• Reach out to a local DPO and find ways to work together. Often a
united voice on promoting inclusion has more power. We can call
this ‘advocacy’.

• There are a wide range of other resources on how to promote inclusion

e.g. inclusion in education. This module is just a starting point.

INCLUSION IN SERVICES
(EDUCATION, HEALTH
AND SOCIAL)
Facilitator Tips:
• This activity is called ‘hot seating’. The idea is that after a group acts out a short
role play, they get advice and support from the rest of the group.
• Questions are asked to someone sitting in a chair - the ‘hot-seat’ - and then
others can give advice, and ideas of what could be said or done differently to
improve the situation.

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 Activity 4
‘Hot seating’ - Treating each other with dignity
In groups of 2 or 3, briefly reflect on past experiences when receiving health,
rehabilitation or education services with your child or social services e.g. to
get a disability card.

Ask one group to act out a short role play which reflects this experience.

Ask the person who acted as the health worker/teacher to sit in the ‘hot seat’
(they can sit on a chair or one a mat in the middle of the group) and to stay in
their role.

What could
you do to improve
how you treat
this mother and
child?

Image adapted from illustration by Petra Röhr-Rouendaal, International HIV/AIDS Alliance (2006)

Encourage the group to ask her questions about why she treated the caregiver
in a certain way.
“What could she have done differently in order to treat the family with more
dignity? Why did you talk to the mother like that?

What could you have done differently? How do you think the mother felt?“

Then ask the caregiver to take the ‘hot seat’ and ask the rest of the group to
ask questions and give some ideas about what she could do or say differently,
as well as ideas of who could help her.
“How did you feel when you we meeting the nurse? What would have
helped you?“

From the discussion draw up a list of how children with disabilities and their
caregivers should ideally be treated to improve their experience of inclusion,
and ideas of what could be done to improve the inclusion in these contexts.
These ideas could be added as ‘ingredients’ to the ‘meal’.

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 Possible ideas and solutions to include which have been drawn from
other experiences:

• Ask another parent or friend to accompany you to a health or education

service for the first time.

• Invite community health workers/teachers to a training and use ideas from

this session.

• Involve local community health workers as soon as possible in planning

care for your child.

GROUP ACTION PLAN

Ask
“What will your community look like when you are included and belong? What
will it be like to live there?”

Facilitator Tips:
Starting the action plan with this question will help the group to have a vision
for change. Write down key words or draw picture on a flipchart. Refer back to
the delicious ‘meal of inclusion’. Ask everyone to look at the ingredients of what
is needed.

Ask
“What activities can you carry out as a group to improve the ‘togetherness and
belonging’ of your children and their families?”

Discuss ideas and help to ensure that practical activities are suggested.

“What is the most feasible action to start with and what is the one thing that
you will plan to do for the next month?”

“What will help you to do this? Who are people who could help you? What
materials (resources) will you need?”

Encourage the group to decide together about one action that they can work
on together in the coming month.
Put in a simple table, such as like the one in the next page.

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 Activities that we What will help Who can be Timings
can carry out as a us to do this responsible – When
group: – People who for what? will
could help us? we do
Any materials this?
we need?

Offer to speak on E.g. who

the radio would be
happy to
speak, who
would be
willing to go
to the radio
station?

Invite family/
community members
for a ‘Celebration
day’ and/or a
social activity with
our group

Ask
“What is one thing that you found useful from the session and how do you
think that you can contribute to the action plan?”

Take Home Messages:

• Children with disabilities and their caregivers have rights.
• Families and community members have a responsibility to help them fulfil
those rights, and to challenge stigma and discrimination.
• It is important to find ‘allies’ in the community and family to help
facilitate change.
• It is important to provide people with information, but you also need to have
contact with people e.g. take your child outside of the house, be willing to talk
with others about your experience. Ask for other people’s help with this.

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 SHARING EMOTIONS
AND FEELINGS
Ask
“How did you feel in this session about togetherness and belonging? How was
it for you to talk about today’s subject?“

“Did it raise any emotions and feelings that you did or did not expect?”

“How have you felt this week? What did this week bring you?“

“Did anything change for you?”

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