4-6. Disability Equality Training (DET) Seminar for the Barangay Officials in Opol, Misamis Oriental

PWD Facilitators explaining the results of the group activity showing two different ways on how PWDs are accepted in the society.

The Disability Equality Training (DET) Seminar for the Barangay Officials in Opol was held on May 21, 2011 at the Pearlmont Inn, Cagayan De Oro City. There were thirty one (31) local Barangay officials who attended the seminar composed of Barangay Captains, Secretaries and Treasurers, Barangay Councilors (in charge of health, infrastructure, social works, etc.), Barangay Youth Councilors and Volunteers (SPED graduates) from three (3) different Barangays in Opol, namely Barangay Barra, Barangay Igpit, and Barangay Patag.

DET Seminar's facilitators were Mr. Joseph Rabanes (President of Differently-Abled Persons (DAP) federation) together with Mr. Jose Ver Arda and Ms. Hazel Bual (both are members of Haci D Oro, a disabled People Organization (DPO) in Cagayan De Oro).

The method used in the seminar was so called Facilitative Participatory Learning (FPL) where the facilitators assisted the active participation of the members of the group using situation analysis and problem solving to help them discover the real issues encountered by the disabled people in the society.

The NHE project invited Barangay officials from three (3) barangays where certain activities such as home visits and support group meetings were conducted prior to the DET seminar were selected. This strategy resulted to a more consolidated plan of action by members of the group in the same barangay towards improving their barangay facilities, barangay services as well as barangay policies which gives opportunity to potential PWDs leaders in their respective barangay to participate in the barangay meetings including creation of support group and the Barangay Council on Disability Affairs (BCDA).

This seminar gave light to the participants' understandings on the issues that PWDs had been encountering. They had realized the importance of having their facilities in their barangays to have ramps and accessible CRs same as realizing why PWDs couldn't fully avail the services of the barangay especially in health and education.

In addition, the seminar included a short quiz regarding the participant's knowledge of the Philippine Law for PWDs. This simple verbal quiz to know the participants' awareness levels on the Disability Laws revealed that few participants are aware of the laws such as R.A. 7277 (Magna Carta of PWDs), R.A. 9442 (An Act Amending Republic Act No. 7277), R.A. 10070 (Establishment of the Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO)), and the Batas Pambansa Bilang 344 (Accessibility Law). An additional information was about the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled—National Paralympics Committee of the Philippines (PhilSPADA-NPC Philippines) PHILSPADA and different types of international sport events for Persons with Disabilities.

Comic

Besides, the Comic "In the Life of Nonoy", one of the output from the previous training called "Training on the Development of Advocacy Materials", was introduced to the participants. The project plans to produce the same kind of comic in Opol's local language. The project plans to distribute comics to students of elementary and secondary schools targeting 4th to 6th grade students and High school students in Opol.

Participants of the DET Seminar from Opol together with DET Facilitators and Organizers.