By Nikolai Ordoña, Zach Cruz, and Marcus Suner

Sandigan Idiyanale officially launched on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 its week-long Disability Inclusion Campaign (DISINC), which aims to promote an aware, safe, and inclusive space to Persons With Disabilities (PWD) and Intellectual or Developmental Disability (IDD) communities. 

The DISINC features a roster of various activities for the ASHS community, starting with the Educational Talks (EduTalks) held at the second floor of the Formation Learning Center (FLC) every Monday and Wednesday after school hours.

EduTalks is a series of informative and insightful discussions to raise awareness about PWDs and IDDs and what students can do to help create safer spaces for them. Student-leaders, especially members of the Assembly of Class Officers (ACO), were required to attend as a form of sensitivity training to encourage a more open-minded and empathetic approach to leadership in the ASHS community.

On the first day of EduTalks, various booths depicting different activities that simulated disabilities were located along the perimeter of the FLC second floor, inviting students to try them all out to discover more about the DISINC’s rationale and campaign. 

Participants were given one bingo card with six symbols—a symbol would be crossed out or signed by the booth operators as acknowledgement of the student completing that booth’s experience. 

The booths and their corresponding disabilities were: Make It Make Sense, which made students put on blindfolds and guess what is inside the box; What’s That Braille, which provided students the opportunity to use stickers to create name tags using braille; ChikASL, wherein students introduced themselves using American Sign Language; Pin the Flower, a dizzying experience that asked students to wear eyeglasses depicting certain visual disabilities and spin around to pin a flower to the wall; Hear Here, in which pairs engaged in a whisper game to showcase hearing disabilities; and finally a Freedom Wall wherein students wrote messages of support paired with the hashtag “#EndTheRWord.”

The EduTalks program was opened by Sir JP Pangan, Idiyanale’s moderator. He emphasized the significance of attending the talk, stressing how its success depends on whether or not the attendees were able to actualize their learnings outside the school. 

Moreover, he highlighted the discussion of inclusivity as a form of human rights and social justice, stating that things will fail if we “forget to treat people like people.”

At the end of his speech, Sir JP hoped that the DISINC would be able to open the eyes of the ASHS community to what the PWD community faces and inspire them to take small steps towards fostering inclusivity and humanity.

Sir JP’s speech was followed by a 10-minute video entitled “Downside Up,” which depicted a world dominated by individuals with Down Syndrome. It emphasized how people, despite being unique and different, could still make a difference.

This was succeeded by a talk from the second speaker, Ms. Michelle Aventajado, who is the executive director of Best Buddies Philippines. 

She highlighted her observations on how only a few select universities in the country are open to welcoming students with Down Syndrome, reflecting on how they are disadvantaged and excluded in society. 

Upon raising a daughter with Down Syndrome, Ms. Aventajado came to be the organization’s executive director, helping individuals with cognitive disabilities find job opportunities and friends to socialize with.

The last speaker of the EduTalks was Mr. Clarence M. Cruz, an ambassador and staff for Best Buddies Philippines and a person living in the autism spectrum. He stressed how the community should spread the word on inclusivity and openness for people with disabilities. 

“I invite you, Ateneo Senior High School, to learn about Best Buddies PH so you can share with your families, relatives, and friends,” he stated. 

At the end of the program, Ms. Aventajado went back in front to leave a lasting impression to the attendees in the form of a one-liner: “Diversity is a fact, inclusion is an action.”

Wednesday’s EduTalks session is only one among Sandigan Idiyanale’s various plans for DISINC week, and is only one small step forward towards the path of true inclusivity, openness, and community for the disadvantaged and the disabled. As the week progresses, Idiyanale’s vision of making the community aware, educated, and inclusive of PWDs is slowly being fulfilled. 

Sandigan Idiyanale 

Disability awareness, and most especially disability acceptance and inclusion has consistently been a long and hard-fought battle for those who are suffering from a variety of disabilities. More often than not, these individuals undergo harsh discrimination, judgment, and prejudice that hinder them from bringing out their true potentials for society. 

As such, awareness and education on the matter has been on a steady rise especially now in the digital age where individuals are able to voice their thoughts and insights as well as shed light on the community of PWDs. Such initiatives by individuals can be found in the ASHS itself, manifested in the Council of Student Committee’s newest sandigan, Idiyanale—which fights for the inclusivity, acceptance, and awareness of PWDs. Established just this school year, Sandigan Idiyanale were able to make great progress in fulfilling their advocacy. 

Idiyanale’s main objective for this year was “to not only expose but [also] promote awareness within the student body for people with IDD and for them to feel at home as well,” as stated by Ms. Clara Mortensen, the overall head.

“Unfortunately, [for] our student population of people who may have IDD, [the] resources aren’t as expansive as they should be, that’s why we are here to provide that for them,” she added.

Nevertheless, in the context of the ASHS community, Ms. Mortensen highlighted the importance of being able to interact with people and influence positive change in society towards inclusivity towards those with disabilities. 

“So it’s really [the] preparation stage [right] now, for the future,” she remarked.

Best Buddies Philippines

According to Ms. Aventajado, Executive Director and stakeholder of Best Buddies Philippines, the organization has been officially around since 2020 as per their Securities and Exchange Commision status in the country. However, they have been running friendship and leadership programs unofficially since 2014, marking this year as their 10th anniversary.

In further including individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in society, she highlighted how Best Buddies does it in four ways: “We do it through friendship, […] leadership, […] inclusive living, and we do it through employment.”

“So anyone who wants to join […] can join any of those programs and from […] being matched and having a buddy like my buddy Bugsy […] to becom[ing] a self-advocate going through some leadership trainings, to getting ready for employment and participating in our pre-employment program, which is where we train individuals who phased out of school and are ready to get a job and earn some money,” she described.

When asked about what outcome she hoped to achieve in the ASHS as a result of the event, she indicated that she wishes to make a difference in society, especially for her own daughter.

“As someone who advocates for individuals with disabilities, I know the power is with the youth. […] What I do everytime I go into any school, […], I just want to be able to provide a different perspective for the kids who attend so that they can see the world through a different lens. And if that lens includes individuals with disabilities and the rights that are often being denied and they can understand that and value that and then fight for those rights for those individuals as well, then I know that the change I am hoping for for my daughter will be, I will see it in my lifetime,” she explained.