"COMMUNICATION +" PROJECT 2015

NOVEMBER

Inclusive Children's Theatre Workshops

The 'Common Ground' Project has as its guiding philosophy the evolving concept of disability underpinned by a rights-based model, championing the rights of children with disabilities to access community activities. As part of the project and the work towards organising an inclusive arts space at the Children's Festival of the Galle Literary Festival in January 2016, members of staff and students of the Department of Disability Studies and some working speech and language therapists organised inclusive theatre workshops for children with and without disabilities in Jaffna and Ratmalana.
The workshops were conducted in Sinhala, Tamil, English, Sri Lankan Sign Language together with pictorial and sensory support with the following participants:
• Jaffna: Students and their siblings accessing The Ark, Uduvil
• Ratmalana: Students of WP/PILI/Colombo Hindu College, School for the Deaf and School for the Blind
The workshop activities were identified with support from Mr. Priyankara Rathnayaka, Senior Lecturer of the Fine Arts Department (Drama & Theatre and Image Arts Unit) of the University of Kelaniya.