Families of children with disability from birth to eight years old are invited to take part in an innovative new study about belonging in the Tweed Shire.
The Belonging Project explores what it means to feel included and connected in the Tweed Shire community; and researcher Danielle Notara is calling for participants to get involved and talk about their experiences of living in a regional community.
By interviewing children with disability and their families and using a combination of drawing, play and photography, researchers aim to find out from the children which areas of our communities are more inclusive than others.
“We want to use this information to feed back into the community and raise awareness about how we can create more opportunities for inclusion,” Ms Notara said.
“We also hope the project will promote understanding of the challenges faced by families and children with disability and in turn change community attitudes towards them.
“Many families have children who display challenging behaviour in public places such as swimming pools, parks and cinemas,” Ms Notara said.
“They can respond to their environment in different ways that we are not used to. Children with disability often have different needs and ways of communicating and people in the wider community need to be more understanding and supportive of them.”
Danielle would also like to see more local businesses and service providers change how they operate, to provide supportive and inclusive environments for these families and hopes to see more government funding made available to provide appropriate, tailored support for their needs.
“According to the World Health Organisation’s Social Determinants of Health findings, when people feel happy and connected to their community, the results for everyone will be an improvement in well-being,” Ms Notara said.
“We’d like to build a more caring community where people look out for each other and are understanding toward others who are different to them.”
The Belonging Project includes researchers from the Northern Rivers Social Development Council (NRSDC) and the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University (SCU) and is funded by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services Stronger Together Two Plan.
For more information about the project or to get involved, contact Danielle at NRSDC on 6620 1818, or visit the website www.nrsdc.org.au/the-belonging-project.html.
