Perceiving the mountains

July 2024

I.Ri.Fo.R. of Emilia Romagna and the Francesco Cavazza Institute for the Blind organized two one-week summer vacations, both recreational and supportive, for sight-impaired children and teens (some with additional frailties or with multiple minor disabilities).

The first week involved 15 children and pre-teens (8-14 years old), while the second was for 15 high school students (14-19 years old), both in the Trentino mountains, in the beautiful town of Cavalese, Val di Fieme.

For some, the vacations - strictly without parents - were the first experience away from home: an essential step to promote growth, self-sufficiency, and socialization with peers. Most of these young people are minors followed by the Cavazza Institute’s Educational Consulting Service, and these summer camps are an extension of the educational project that the Service has conducted for many years during the school year, promoting the overall growth of sight-impaired children in our area.

During the vacation, the children were constantly supported by a team composed of a lead psychologist, expert teachers, and 2 orientation and mobility instructors (one for each week).

The mountains offered an opportunity to experience the open air, stimulating attention to sensorial input from a variety of environments (woods, waterfall, ascent, descent, cable car). The children moved their body during the walks and hikes, experiencing the effort, fatigue, and satisfaction of reaching their goal.

In addition to the hikes, the children and teens were offered a day of fun in a pool, yoga-pilates workshops (where they learned movement techniques to gain greater awareness of their bodies), emotion workshops (to promote the discussion and sharing of experiences), workshops on personal and home self-sufficiency (for example, preparing snacks in the “Master Snack” laboratory), individual or group sessions for better understanding of orientation and mobility techniques, use of the walking stick, ways to differentiate currency, etc.

The evenings were also full of engaging experiences, such as the film evening with audio description, the Book Club evenings (reading aloud of a story about the mountains in which the main character was a blind boy), evening walks, and the Talent Show on the last evening!

These summer vacations are both educational and recreational experiences, precious opportunities to increase personal autonomies as well as to make friends and relax in a welcoming ambiance, stimulated by interesting activities but also understood and accepted with one’s disabilities.

Dialog among young sight-impaired people triggers motivation and pride in doing things by themselves (even just trying), activating previously hidden resources and letting them discover new things about themselves. Exchange and peer tutoring is essential: talking with and helping friends are invaluable ways to build self-esteem.

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