WRITING TASK

The year 2017 has been designated as “European Year of Inclusion” emphasizing the significance of all people being involved in all the fields of life; no one should be left behind.

             Write a short article (120-150 words) for your school newspaper trying to explain

• What does the word “inclusion” mean to you?
• How can school help students to include one another in their companies?
• The benefits of including and being included?

 

The students from Gazi Anatolian High School explained their ideas on inclusion

For me, the word “inclusion” means unity. This means that in a specific community all the people get along with each other and they don’t have any bad thoughts about the people around them; just because they are different.

(John)

We are humans and we should thus live in a fairer world and we should all have the same rights. Unfortunately, this is not true, but we should try to make it better, starting with facing people like we are all the same.

(Sotiris)

Not only community, but also school should try to help kids who find it difficult to socialize by organizing events and asking them to work in teams so that they learn from each other.

(Panagiotis)

One field which teaches us about life is school, because through it, students learn about different religions and kinds of life, which, makes students want to learn more about other countries.

(Maria)

I believe all students have abilities and they can do a lot of things together. School should do some projects which include students with the same habits.                                                                    

(Gus)

It would be nice if students without friends and social life were asked about stuff they like, so people with common interests would have fun with them. That would enforce students’ bonds and would make them more loved and tolerant.

(Helen)

School can help students to include one another in their companies by organizing special projects for pupils with mind or body problems. In this way, we will be friendly members of a big community. Our sensitivity will be increased and we will do a lot of good things for other people. This will be a new way of living!

(Sophia)

School should encourage students to work in teams so that they come closer to each other. It can also organize celebrations for them.

(Stavros)

Including and being included should be the main rule in each school.

(Esmeralda)

School can help students to be included because there are a lot of different types of people and everyone matches with someone else. 

(George)

Nowadays, students do discriminations against students of a different origin. School must do some homework on this issue or something about this problem.

(Dimosthenis)

If people achieve to be all together without putting anyone in the margin, it will be beneficial for everybody. Firstly, all people will have a friend and somebody to spend time together, to communicate with, to share their happiness and sadness.

(Tina)

EUROPEAN YEAR OF INCLUSION

It is a well known fact that, even though it is absolutely important to include all people in a community so that they feel a strong sense of belonging, in this day and age, most people ignore the matter. Why?

To begin with, belonging to a community is of great importance. When someone is a member of a society, he/she is able to communicate with the others and develop his/her social relationships so as to enjoy their lives and cooperate with the other people for the good of the society.

School is one basic factor and should play an active role in including students of different mentalities with different characteristics in their system. This means that they could organize companies and courses for all the foreign students in order to improve their skills so as not to lag behind the others.

What is more, both teachers and students should minimize their sense of racism and xenophobia and be more open-minded with the people who may have a different religion, color or be from other countries.

There is no denying that the benefits of including or being included are many. For instance, all people can live together and cooperate efficiently so as not only to improve themselves but their society, as well.

To sum up, I’m inclined to believe that all people should take into consideration the benefits of including and become more sensible by taking care of each other’s rights.

(Vassiliki)

And last but not least, Amalia's essay on inclusion:

 

OŠ Ivana Mažuranića Vinkovci, Croatia

Disabilities and differences

by Maja Stolar

People with disabilities (whether they’re physical or mental) are often treated differently or ignored. Some people are mean towards them, some help them and some simply ignore them. But ignoring them is a very wrong approach because the fact that they have a disability doesn’t mean that they are a lot different than us. They’re also human just a little bit different. And we should all treat them equally. For example, we have a friend named Gabrijela in our class and she suffers from the Down syndrome. The Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by a presence of a spare chromosome. Some of the symptoms are:  delayed physical growth, characteristic facial and physical features, mild to moderate intellectual disability etc. Also, their senses and reflexes are exacerbated than with other people so vision and hearing disorders occur to more than half of people with the Down syndrome. My friend Gabrijela also has all those symptoms. She goes to the typical primary school (unlike some children with the Down syndrome), but she has an assistant in schooling. She studies by a special programme.  From my experience, she is a very nice girl, she smiles and laughs all the time and she works pretty hard for good grades. So I don’t understand why people laugh at her or mock her. I’ve personally experienced people mocking her and I would always stop them and try to tell them that what they’re doing is wrong. People shouldn’t mock or laugh at people with disabilities for various of reasons. Firstly, it’s not nice to mock anyone, let alone a person with disabilities who struggles and suffers so much in life. Secondly, you never know what that persons going through so mocking them definitely won’t make anything better. And thirdly, never do anything to other people what you don’t want other people to do to you. No one likes to be made fun of so don’t make fun of other people. We should all start accepting and embracing the differences of each others. And it’s not just with the people with disabilities. People also don’t accept people that are trying to be unique and different than any other. And we should all accept each other’s differences because at the end of the day every person is different so why is it a problem if someone stands out with something. In conclusion, we’re all one big society so we should always be kind to one another and never be afraid to stand out with something. Never mock other people just because they’re different (especially the people with disabilities), instead embrace the differences and always help one another.

                                                                                               

                                                                                                             Mirjam's Struggle   

by Dorian Dražić – Karalić

 

So, I asked my mum, Mirjam Jukić, what were her toughts when she heard the diagnosis here they are:

I have multiple sclerosis. I am trying to deal with this information for a month. I have to be strong, I have three sons. Oh dear God, do not let them experience this. Is it inherited? Google replied it is not. But I wonder how my sister and I, but no one  in the family has it, as I recall.What a stupid disease… The disease with a thousand faces so its called.   

I have to be strong, do a responsible job, and I must ensure a decent existence for my family.

I have to be strong .... But it didn't help! It's not working.

How do people get used to this?

Mirjam thought ... no depression, you have to organize something that's your job. And so I found the solution  how to fight multiple sclerosis.My new life companion, which I didn't want, but it did come and it is staying for a lifetime. The solution is to organize something. How? Easy for me. First, we go to  "facebook". See how many groups are there about multiple sclerosis! Okay, we're going to organize something - the first MS Walk-Walk for MS. That's right! I have an idea, I have an event, I do not even think that nobody has ever done something in my Country? It obviously waited for me. That's my mission! We are going to fight this miracle of illness by making it my job.

Again I'm googling, now I'm really angry. I have not found the same two MS patients yet. The Internet is a wonderful thing, everything is available and you can find everything you want (or in case you find anything you do not want), but the more you read everything the more you are confused. Too many information. Mirjam, stop googling MS! I'm depressed. I feel it.

In Zagreb (all over Croatia, because if it does not happen in Zagreb, it did not happen for the media), the first Croatian MS walk was held and it was successful. The group on Facebook MS TIM CROATIA that I run, my little world full of people suffering from this disease, of people who are in the same shit as me, are more and more popular and proud of all who are there with their comments, likes and with whom I am in daily communication.
And the best of my organization is the team I gathered in Vinkovci. Sisters by diagnosis, my new friends, I knew some of them from seeing them around town, are now my lifelong friends. Bounded by our illness, but today we are bounded by our friendship

To be continued…