Maynooth Brownies were delighted to engage with the Our World initiative while working on their Brownie Disability Awareness Badge. Over a couple of weeks, Maynooth Access Group joined Brownies at their meetings with a selection of toys from the amazing, inclusive and sustainable toy lending library.
Brownies are aged 7-10 years and are a part of Irish Girl Guides. Guiding is a non-formal educational programme and learning through play is a fantastic way for young people to engage with important topics. The Our World initiative, with its inclusive range of toys is ideal for raising awareness and understanding about disabilities, both visible and invisible, and the challenges that a person with disabilities may face. They discussed different ways to ensure people of all abilities was included in activities and everyday life.
Brownies earned their disability badges. They were so inspired by all they had learned that they wanted to continue and use what they had learned to design and build models of accessible housing. A lot of thought went in to these to make these houses as accessible as possible. Ramps and lifts, adjustable beds, sensory rooms etc. They even designed dog beds and food bowls for assistance dogs. The models were displayed in Maynooth library and some of the dolls from the toy library were added. These model houses proved very popular with the public while also raising awareness of the importance of accessibility. Young people are our future planners, architects, engineers, and the more they learn about access for all, the more it helps to ensure a more inclusive future for all.
Maynooth Brownies and Maynooth Access Group (MAG) partnered together to be part of a short documentary about The Our World Programme titled Maynooth: An Inclusive Community. This documentary was created by Kirstin Jordan and Ciara Fox. It showcases many of the wonderful toys in the MAG toy library, the way Brownies engaged with them, and highlights some of what they learned from it.
Check out the documentary on this link.
