Dubai: Noor Dubai Foundation in collaboration with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has launched an awareness campaign in schools called ‘Through their Eyes’ to address the “often-overlooked” social and emotional impact that vision problems have on a child.
Dubai-based child psychologists and the school health team at the DHA will work with the Noor Dubai team to reach out to schools.
Dr Manal Taryam, CEO of the Noor Dubai Foundation, said: “In the spirit of the Year of Giving, the objective of the talks is to promote a more inclusive community for those suffering for any vision disability. We will be targeting primary schoolchildren from grade four to six. This stage of late childhood/preadolescence has been selected based on expert advice and children will be educated in a storytelling style so that they are engaged and better receive and understand the information. In the pilot phase, the team will conduct the talks in six schools across Dubai over a six-week period in both in Arabic and English.”
The objectives of the programme include teaching students to “accept and respect all peers” despite any disability, with a focus on those suffering from any visual disability, particularity having to wear glasses.
It also aims to promote a sense of equality among the students, teach students to be “empathetic rather than sympathetic”, and encourage the involvement of the visually impaired students in all activities.
