On April 3-4, the U. S. Embassy in Armenia and Project Harmony International (PHI) hosted a National Youth Summit on Social Inclusion, drawing to a close a two-month long project that reached more than 1,000 Armenian students. The Summit was attended by U.S. Ambassador Richard M. Mills, the Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Vatche Terteryan, deputy head of the department of general education of the Ministry of Education and Science Nonna Sahakyan, visiting U.S. speakers, and Armenian students and teachers from all over the country. These teachers and students have been participating in a groundbreaking educational project that has generated a powerful conversation among Armenian youth about social inclusion and disabilities.
The project kicked off in February, when fifty high school teachers were trained on how to incorporate lesson plans based on the New York Times-best-selling novel Wonder, which was translated into Armenian with the support of the U.S. Embassy. Wonder is about a boy with a severe facial disfigurement and the challenges he faces when he enters a public school after being home-schooled his whole life. The book was then introduced to the students, and additional classroom activities included an art contest that inspired students all over the country to think about how social inclusion can be implemented in their schools, and a postcard contest in which students shared their suggestions for improving accessibility for people with disabilities in Armenia.. A panel that included representatives from the Embassy, the Ministry of Education and Science, and PHI selected the best suggestions and the winners were invited to the summit. One winner wrote, “One of the wonders that make children’s life a fairytale are carousels and swings, and children with disabilities do not have access to them. It is necessary to create accessible playgrounds.”
U.S. speakers Dr. Victor Pineda and Mr. Alexander Barrasso joined the conference as part of their visit to Armenia. Dr. Pineda is considered one of the global leaders of the international disability rights movement. His work includes negotiating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, serving as adjunct professor at the University of California, consulting with international organizations such as the World Bank and UNICEF, and running his own foundation, which is committed to the advancement of human rights for young people with disabilities. Mr. Barrasso is a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State. He currently serves as deputy political/economic counselor with the U.S. Embassy in Prague, and is also five-time winner of the U.S. Chess Championship for Blind Players.
The Embassy is pleased that the messages of this project – kindness, inclusiveness, and the conviction that natural talents exist within everyone, and deserve to be recognized – have resonated so deeply with Armenian youth.
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U. S. Embassy in Armenia
