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Who Am I - promoting resilience, empowerment and self-awareness amongst youth with visual impairments
Start date: Jul 1, 2015, End date: Sep 30, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The general objective of the project is to promote resilience, empowerment and wellbeing in young people with visual impairment. A number of 24 individuals with visual impairment between the age 16-22, from 5 different countries, are expected to participate in the current project. The age group 16 – 22 is a crucial stage of human development, both in normally developed populations and especially in people with visual impairments. The transition from meta- adolescence to early adulthood constitutes a period of change in every life domain of the persons. Individuals with visual impairments are often dependent on others and find it hard to function as independent members of the society, especially if they feel that they do not have the skills or the competencies to do so. Psychological resilience is a fundamental concept of the healthy and positive development of any individual. It refers to the individual’s ability to overcome a difficulty quickly and effectively and is consisted of various concepts. These include concrete progress, such as improved confidence, coping and self-esteem, and less measurable outcomes, such as doing better than expected, or simply maintaining the status quo. These benefits are of particular importance to children and young people with disabilities, who face additional adversity, disadvantage, and challenges to their development. In accordance to the Erasmus+ objectives, the particular objectives of this programme aim to provide participants with key competence and skills taking into consideration that young people with visual impairment do not often have the opportunity to travel and participate in such actions. The exchange of cultural experiences and the opportunity of open discussion will allow the participants to share experiences and emotions and further promote understanding of the functioning of individuals with similar impairments in different settings. Through the project the particular issues and needs addressed include building of resilience and empowerment and management of emotional reactions in regards to the impairment and enhancement of individuals’ abilities to accept their condition and adapt to their new life conditions. The long-term goal is to help individuals acquire the necessary skills so that they become active members of the society, they are independent and can take charge of their life. It is important for them to learn to think good in order to feel good. The competences to be acquired/improved by participants in each planned activity of our project are self-awareness, collaboration, emotion management (emphasis on anger management), communication, acceptance of ones' self and others and finally positive thinking. The context and objectives of the activities include 5 Workshops: Acquaintance, Positive thinking – others, Positive thinking – self, Visual Impairment and Emotions awareness and management. The basic elements of those activities refer to Role plays, Discussion, Brainstorming, Empirical exercises, Group exercises, After workshop homework. Each participant will be involved in a number of activities, all of them aiming to promote resilience, empowerment and self awareness. Each organization will have the opportunity to send a group of young people with visual impairment to the to a foreign county where people will have the chance to meet youth from other countries and exchange experiences and ides. Overall, participants will boost skills, meet new cultures, broaden their horizons and expand their opportunities through their interaction with youth from other countries.
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