Opening event of the campaign ‘Human, not Diagnosis’
On August 4, the opening event of the campaign “Human, not diagnosis” has invited guests to the Latvian National library – people with mental disabilities, children with functional impairments and their parents, media representatives, celebrities, and representatives of the Welfare Ministry. They are not quite sure what they’ll have to do.
Opening event of the campaign “Human, not diagnosis” – a game of respectful cooperation.
The guests are split into teams. Now they can guess that a competition or a game is looming. The teams are waiting for it to begin.
Elizabete’s family has come the longest way. The girl and her parents have arrived at the Library from Smiltene.
Reinis and his mom are eager and excited. They are both on the blue team.
Paula and her parents are smiling the entire time. This family has done a lot in their local community to change the attitude towards children with functional impairments.
One of the campaign’s messengers, Arvīds, is laying it all out for a TV broadcast Bez Tabu reporter – what is what in his life. Arvīds lives independently and works at a social enterprise in Ogre.
Once in a while, a participant is asked on the set. Watch the video and see what the actor Jurijs Djakonovs told the camera crew.
Kaspars Markševics, musician, DJ and head of Latvian Orphaned Children’s fund answers the questions of the camera crew.
Actors Baiba Broka and Jurijs Djakonovs are not yet sure what they will have to do.
Everybody is invited to go outside.
Representative of the Welfare Ministry Edīte Olupe, journalists Jeļena Vihrova and Agnese Meijere, as well as the actress Baiba Broka are ready to do (almost) whatever is asked of them.
Finally, the goals are getting clearer. The masterclass of respectful cooperation is about to begin, and everyone must participate. The only thing that matters is who we are! See the human, not the diagnosis!
Everything is photographed and filmed. The game is led by one of the campaign’s ‘Human, not diagnosis’ experts Pēteris Martukāns.
Are there any other surprises?
One of the participants, Elizabete, has a birthday today! Congratulations!
Task one: each team must assemble a sentence using word cards and choosing which words stay and which go.
What is this sentence going to be?
The pink team is very active. One of the campaign’s messengers, Pēteris, is on it. And everyone is congratulating the birthday girl, Elizabete.
It is not that easy to assemble the right phrase.
Pēteris has guessed the answer.
A mountain does not meet another mountain, a person meets another person. /Latvian proverb/
Yellow team with one of the campaign’s messengers, Iluta. A special asset to the team is Paula, the girl who lives a fulfilled and successful life thanks to the support of her parents and surrounding community.
Yellow team in action.
Debates on the right answer run high in the yellow team.
The blue team have also got their answer. No single tree in the forest is the same as another, no human in the world is similar to another. /Latvian proverb/
What is the blue team showing?
What is the pink team showing?
What should Paula do??
When the teams have completed their tasks, Latvian National Library’s head of public relations Augusts Zilberts expresses joy about the main task of today – coming together. Latvian National Library is a sponsor of the campaign “Human, not Diagnosis.”
The event is not over yet. Now the participants must again give interviews to the camera crew. The organizers of the campaign want to know what it would be like if we were all judged by our…. find out what in the video.
Press briefing after the cooperation masterclass/game has brought together many media representatives. Gatis Eglītis, Welfare Minister, is addressing the audience.
Welfare Ministry’s deputy head of the Secretary, Līga Āboliņa, talks about the most important aspect in the deinstitutionalization process – the person: “There is a human alongside service and infrastructure development, both the consumer of the society-based service and everyone else. We are supportive in words and we stand for an inclusive society and the rights of vulnerable groups, but we rage against a group apartment being built next to ours. This is the question on our society’s readiness to accept the different.”
Psychologist, supervisor and campaign’s expert on society’s attitude toward children with functional impairments, Ilze Dreifelde, mentions the conflicting emotions we experience when meeting children who look and behave differently. Ieva Leimane-Veldmeijere, head of the resources center for people with mental disabilities “Zelda”, says that the society’s attitude toward people with mental disabilities is far from what it should be.
The campaign’s expert on issues regarding children left without parental guardianship, Ārija Martukāne, speaks about the role of foster families in the mental development of the society.
Back to section ‘People among us’
This campaign is organized with the financial support of the European Social Fund.
