2024-03-13 01:00:08
A special experience was experienced by the students of Metamorfosis High School of Ioannina, whose school was visited on Thursday, February 22 by the teacher and director of the Greek Sign Language school “Tunnel of Silence” Panagiotis Zoupas and Sevasti Naki and Stavros Vassilakis together with their dog ” Aura”, which has been trained to be a companion to people with visual impairments, offering them autonomous and safe movement.
The visit was planned as part of an event aimed at deconstructing stereotypes and prejudices about disability through experiential learning, i.e. the process that simultaneously promotes the personal development of students, as well as their awareness of social problems and issues of human relations . With their presence, the three guests gave the students the opportunity to get to know and discover the world of guide dogs for the blind and the relationship that develops between a visually impaired person and their guide dog, as well as to get to know an alternative form of communication through sign language.
The students learned about sign language, its alphabet, how to communicate with people who cannot hear, the Braille system, the special training a dog needs to be certified as a guide dog for the blind, how to behave if come into contact with a guide dog while working. They were also informed about the struggle that our fellow humans are doing to convince of the necessity of guide dogs, at a time when their training and upbringing is based 100% on private and corporate donations, while they enjoyed the pantomime game and formed the their first words in sign language.
The director of Metamorphosis High School Evangelia Davi expresses her gratitude to Sevasti Nakis, Stavros Vassilakis, Panagiotis Zoupas and Avra, who shared their experiences and daily life with their students. He also thanks the teacher Persefoni Malatou for the idea of the event and for her help to make it happen.