07 June 2015
From a simple act of aiding someone sit in a wheelchair or lending a hand as one ascends or descends the stairs, to learning how to use non-visual computers.
These were among the training modules being given to TESDA trainers and focal persons faced with the challenge of providing technical vocational education to persons with disabilities (PWDs).
"Skills training is one way of connecting PWDs to the physical, social , economic and cultural environment so they can fully enjoy their rights," Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director General Joel Villanueva said about the agency's Sensitivity Training and Basic Sign Language Course being conducted at the TESDA Women's Training Center.
"To address the specific needs of the PWDs, the people around them, particularly the trainers, should know how to deal with them or handle them properly," Villanueva said.
"Appropriate planning of the program and projects should also be done considering their type of disability," he added.
The trainers and focal persons were given orientation on the laws and policies on the training and employment of PWDs.
There were lectures on courtesy rules of blindness and mobility training, which included specific movements as getting into a chair, getting into a car, stance, grip, and the like.
There was also a deaf sensitivity with basic conversational sign language, understanding deafness and deaf people and the sign language connection. A lecture on orthopedically handicapped sensitivity was also given.
The participants were taught how to operate computers using non-visual desktop access (NVDA) to allow them to make full use of information and communication technology in teaching or assisting persons with visual impairment.
Among the culminating activities were workshops where the participants prepared their regional action plans and identified the issues, concerns and recommendations to enhance TESDA's training programs for PWDs.
"We have to see the PWDs with the understanding that their disabilities are only incidental, and this does not deprive them of their rights and opportunities available to them," Villanueva said.
"By strengthening the capacity of the trainers of PWDs, we are showing that we recognize every person's capacity to contribute in a meaningful way for the country," he added.
Republic Act No. 7277, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, mandates TESDA to include vocational training of PWDs as a component of its continuing human resources development program.
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