Tv
Tv has become an integral part of our lives. Upon returning home, most of us turn on the TV! This often happens automatically, as we somehow want to “fill” the space, we want someone to keep us company.
Tv “serves” us in various ways. It is a way of entertainment, information, education, and relaxation. There are many times when our way to relax is by watching a movie or series. It’s something many of us ask even for entertain. But it is also a way to strengthen our empathy and open our minds.
How many times have you find yourself within the cast? How many times have you faced a situation similar to the one you are watching in a series or movie?
How many times have you asked yourself what you would do in the actress’ place?
Movies, many times, make us subconsciously think. In this way, we broaden our minds! If you think about it, all of us at some point, have thought how, if we were in the actor’s place, we would face these different situations in real life. Of course, not all movies are like that. But the films based on reality and everyday life are the ones that bring to our minds, but also to our hearts, our own true feelings and concerns.
Sometimes it is not easy to understand some “difficult” or different situations in order to understand the deeper concerns and problems faced by others.
For instance, it is difficult to understand what it is like to live with a person with a disability. With a person with reduced or no mobility, with a person with Intellectual Disability. It’s easier for all of us to get into such thoughts and “get it” when we watch something similar in a movie or series.
It is very important to be able to understand or even imagine the problems that people with Intellectual Disabilities face themselves and those around them. Over the years there have been released several films where the main character is a person with Intellectual Disability. The movies “I am Sam” (2001) and “Miracle in cell no 7” (2019) are some typical examples.
Through those films we came closer to problems and concerns of people who could even belong to our own family environment. The above films created us strong and intense emotions. We came closer to different problems and understood the term Intellectual Disability a little better.
We realized how “far” we were from this but also how much the proper education of families, caregivers and the whole society, would help for the better life of these individuals. We began to think if here, in Greece, there are appropriate structures, both for children and for adults with Intellectual Disabilities. We wondered, even without expressing it, how hard it is to live with it and imagined how hard it would be to grow old having an Intellectual Disability. We wondered if caregivers and families could receive some training to help their loved ones (with Intellectual Disability) and how this would be done.
In order to help both the caregivers and the families of People with Intellectual Disabilities, for their better social activity and quality of life, the AIDA project was created!
AIDA Project
Five (5) partners from Greece, Spain, England and Denmark joined forces for the implementation of the Active Aging – AIDA project. The European Project Active Aging-AIDA, which is implemented in the framework of the Erasmus+ program, deals with people aged three and four with intellectual disabilities and more specifically with their social activity and the best quality of life they can acquire.
AIDA is implementing in order to provide the necessary knowledge and tools to ensure that professionals – experts dealing with elderly people, host organizations and the families of these individuals can behave and convey to these individuals what is necessary for active action during the ageing AIDA period.
Through AIDA, there would be developed:
- Identification of elderly with ID.
- Curriculum for VET.
- Online Training.
People with ID, need special care, especially when they become elderly. Researchers are noting that the aging process for people with ID differs significantly from the aging process for people of a similar age, so it is necessary to adjust the care and treatment they receive to match it to their own characteristics and needs.
