The Round table meeting "The peculiarities of communication between the youth with special needs and the youth from school and colleges”

The event was organized by the social integration Centre for people with special needs that operates at the Charitable Foundation "Caritas of the Stryi Eparchy of the UGCC ", within the frames of the project "Network of the social integration Centres for people with special needs in Ukraine".

One of the main issues, which were discussed during the roundtable meeting, was the discussion of the importance and the usefulness of communication between the youth and people with special needs for the formation of successful identity of both: the former and the latter. In particular, Fr. Volodymyr Zhdan, the Chancellor of the Stryi Eparchy, Ph.D., the senior lecturer of theology in the Ukrainian Catholic University, shared the experience of communication between the UCU students and the children and youth with special needs, who live in orphanages of the city of Lviv. "Students, while communicating face-to-face with the" special "people, started to view the life differently, started to become more responsible and thoughtful in their actions. Because one thing is just to sit and to listen to a lecture at the University about the human virtues, and the other - to communicate with the child or with the young person with special needs, to feel his or her sincerity and frankness, to assist him or her, to hold his or her hand "- stressed the clergyman.

Mrs. Marta Gladiy, the psychologist and the speaker at the event, while presenting the experience of psychology regarding the issue under consideration, stressed the exclusive benefit of such communication for the adolescents, by noting that: "The adolescence is the age of search, of the formation of a young man, and it is of crucial importance during this time to learn to take care of others, to help those in need, because it is under such conditions that the appropriate value system in person’s life is formed”.

The central moment in the roundtable meeting were the presentations of the social integration Centre for people with special needs, which was conducted by Mrs. Liudmyla Sukhareva, the national coordinator of the project "Network of the social integration Centres for people with special needs in Ukraine" at the ICF "Caritas of Ukraine", and the community "Faith and Light", that operates at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Stryi, whose leader is Mrs. Sophia Borys. The participants of the event, among whom there were also the school youth and students, familiarized themselves with the practical activities of those institutions and were invited to actively cooperate, so as to become able to experience what has previously been discussed, through the real communication and friendship with people with special mental needs in Stryi.

It should be noted that over the time that the social integration Centre for people with special needs operates, owing to Mrs. Iryna Stephanyshyn, the deputy headmaster for curriculum and discipline, the cooperation with the Higher Art Vocational School № 16 has been established. Mrs. Iryna and the students of the above mentioned school shared their impressions which they received from communicating with people with special needs and encouraged people of the same age to take them as a model.

At the final part of the roundtable meeting, the video, from the summer recreational camp for people with special needs, was presented; this camp was taking place owing to the money that were collected during the Easter Fair, which was organized by the City Council of Stryi in collaboration with the educational institutions of Stryi in 2012. As it was noted by Mrs. Tayisiya Haidukevych, the deputy mayor, conduction of such events teaches school and university students to be compassionate and to do good, and this will as a result help them to become good and zealous Christians. Having gratified all the participants of the roundtable meeting for the frankness and understanding, Fr. Vasyl Hushuvatyi, the director of the Charitable Foundation "Caritas of the Stryi Eparchy of the UGCC ", encouraged for the future cooperation, so as to follow the same direction together, while helping and supporting each other.

Oksana Ilkiv,
the coordinator of the social integration Centre for people with special needs