Arts and Creativity
Sociocultural Development of Children with or without Disabilities
Srimayee
Srijana
Region
Asia Pacific
Program
Bharat (India)
Project Year
2021
Srimayee and Srijana are Special Olympics Youth Leaders from Bharat who want to empower youth with intellectual disabilities to break down societal stigmas through a Youth Innovation Project focusing on Unified theater.
Over a period of nine months, Srimayee and Srijana will lead trainings for 30 Youth Leaders with and without intellectual disabilities selected from a group of child laborers or school dropouts with informal educational backgrounds. They will practice UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 by providing youth with quality education through plays that deconstruct gender, caste and ability and by guiding them through the process of performing with confidence in four stage performances. Through this unified opportunity, Srimayee and Srijana hope to reduce inequalities within their community, as well as help students overcome anxiety or aggression by letting these feelings out in a constructive way that leads to mutual understanding and empathy. Srimayee and Srijana believe that participating youth will gain long-term benefits through this project, such as improved social skills, creativity and overall psychological well-being.