02
February
2017
|
18:04
Asia/Singapore

Playing for an inclusive campus

What difficulties do students with special needs (SSNs) face on an everyday basis? What is it like to live with such difficulties?

A sports carnival organised by the NUS Enablers on 31 January hoped to address and answer these questions, to raise participants’ awareness, understanding of and empathy for the difficulties faced by SSNs in everyday life.

Planning for the carnival began in September last year, said DS Vickram, NUS Engineering second-year student and Project Director for the event. The carnival comprised of four games, each specially designed to mimic the various limitations SSNs may experience in their lives — handmade goggles to simulate tunnel vision, tying of limbs together and steering a wheelchair to simulate mobility difficulties, and a darkened room to simulate visual impairment.

Participants had to overcome challenges such as manoeuvring through a network of strings with legs bound to another person’s, interpreting sign language and completing an obstacle course while on a wheelchair.

A crowd favourite was the Mini Goal Ball Battleships, where participants had to defend cones from being hit over while simultaneously rolling balls to hit their opponents’ cones. This was made more difficult by wearing goggles that limited their vision. “The sense of sight is one that I rely on the most, and that really took it away. The effect was very immediate,” said Sandra Ee, a third-year NUS Electrical Engineering student.

mini goal ball 1

The set-up for Mini Goalball Battleships

Amanda Chong, third-year NUS Social Work student, who is herself visually impaired, commented that the game forced participants to make use of their other senses besides sight. “It’s quite fair because everyone can’t really see quite well, and the balls have bells in them, so you can hear when they’re coming,” she said.

Most participants agreed that these activities gave them better insight into the kind of challenges SSNs experience each day.

Warren Tay, a third-year NUS Nursing student, relished the opportunity. “I think they live in a very different world from us, and it can be hard to see things from their perspectives,” he said.

Amin Iskandar Bin Sulaiman, first-year NUS Engineering student agreed. “Through these exercises we can empathise a little about how they go through their lives and what their struggles are,” he said.

wheelchair 2

A participant throwing a basketball through a hoop during the Wheelchair Obstacle Course

Soh Si Lin, third-year NUS Science student and President of the club, hopes that the games will encourage participants to be proactive in approaching SSNs on and off campus. “Having experienced this, (we hope that) when they meet SSNs in their own lives, they can learn how to help them,” she said.

Founded in 2011, NUS Enablers began as a module to help familiarise newly matriculated SSNs with the campus and daily school life, but evolved into an Interest Group that works with NUS Student Affairs and NUS Estate and Development to help create an inclusive campus experience for all students, including SSNs.