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Fotografija- pot do naših svetov (Photography- path to our worlds)
Start date: May 9, 2016, End date: Oct 8, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

CIRIUS Kamnik prepares for life, educates and trains physically disabled children and adolescents. It is among the pioneers in development of phototherapy. This school year a novelty was introduced in the residential unit of CIRIUS – an independence group, which is an attempt to introduce slightly different educational approaches for adolescents who have minor physical disabilties. Its goal is to empower them to be in life as independent and autonomous as possible. It is professionally based on the theory and practice of assisted living residences and adjusted to people with different kinds of physical disabilties.We have organized a camping event in front of CIRIUS since the beginning of June 2012. This year we would like the guests from similar institutions in Croatia and Portugal to take part in the event.The project 'Photography – a path to our worlds' is a youth exchange project of adolescents with special needs from three different countries, which will take place at the end of May and at the beginning of May in Kamnik, Slovenia. 11 adolescents from Centre for Education, Rehabilitation and Training (CIRIUS) Kamnik, 6 adolescents from the Centre for Education Dubrava Zagreb, and 6 adolescents from Vocational School EPA Averio will take part in the project. Physically disabled adolescents, adolescents with mental disorders, adolescents with specific learning problems and problems in social integration will participate in the exchange.Photography is known to be one of the most democratic media, not only for its simplicity and accessibility, but also for opening new communication opportunities. The language of images is generally clearer than the language of words and is not limited with language barriers or potential personal deficits and disorders in speech and language functions.The adolescents with special needs will communicate with each other through photography and share their worlds with the others. They will empower and gain various social skills through photography, get to know themselves and each other, get to know other cultures and practise English as well as public speaking.After learning the photography basics, they will use their knowledge in real life situations – on the trips to nearby and faraway vicinity (Arboretum, Ljubljana, Bled, Bohinj) they will take their own photos with the help of adjustments. The adolescents from the independence group have been taking the phototherapy course the whole school year, so the method peer to peer education will be used. The young will help each other solve problems. After evening evaluations the participants will go through the photos together with their phototherapist mentor and discuss them.Each country will be asked to prepare their evening and an evalvation of the day they choose. The last two days will be spent camping – the exchange group of adolescents will join the traditional event, which has been organized in CIRIUS Kamnik for the fourth year and where the children and adolescents from similar institutions from Slovenia have been invited.We want the youth exchange of adolescents from different cultures to encourage creativity, communication and relaxation through group work. They will get a different insight in their own situation through photographic artistic expression, an opportunity for personal growth, influence on positive self-esteem, and their own development by testing new ways of behaving in unknown situations. Indirectly, the European citizenship will be enhanced, social inclusion present, and their social networking will grow.After finishing the exchange, all three groups will write a report on the event, which will be published on their websites and local media, and thus contribute to the visibility of Erasmus+ programme in their environment.By learning the basics of photography and the adjustments, necessary for each individual,the young people who participated in the project will be able to take photographs on their own and thus spend their free time more meaningfully and share their worlds with others and in such a way discuss the problems and challenges of people with special needs. We also want this experience to inspire someone else who would like to express themselves in this way or other organizations to include more young people with special needs when planning projects.
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