support for parents and caregivers
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Other parents groups have worked on projects to help children with
disabilities become more active members of the community. For
example, your parents group can:
• organize sports events that include children with disabilities.
• build a playground for all children (see Chapter 13 “Becoming Part
of the Community”).
• start a child-care center where children with disabilities can be cared
for together with other children (see Chapter 14 “Getting Ready for
Child-Care and School”).
Some parents groups have worked to improve government programs and
laws for children with disabilities. Your group can:
• contact people in government, like the ministers of health and
education. Tell them about services your community needs, or about
laws needed to protect children with disabilities.
• get well-known people, like entertainers or athletes, to speak out in
solidarity with children with disabilities.
• write letters, pass around petitions, or organize protests if
government officials do not improve conditions for disabled children.
• educate and involve newspaper, radio, and TV reporters in your
campaigns.
Parents groups have also worked to prevent blindness and other
disabilities. For example, many children become blind because they do
not eat enough foods with vitamin A (see Chapter 16 “Why Children
Lose Their Vision and What We Can Do”). Your group may want to raise
awareness about the causes of blindness, or grow vegetables that can
prevent blindness.
helping children who are blind