Day 433 of creating new smiles in new people – Giving hope to a hearing impaired person
Have you ever had the chance to interact with a group of differently abled people? I will assure you that you will never be the same after such an experience!
After being a corporate trainer for the last 10 years, I was very excited on 3rd Dec ’16 to get an opportunity to conduct a motivational workshop for these special people. My initial brief was to do a program to improve their level of self confidence. I then realised that I have to take the help of an interpreter, so probably I may not be able to get a direct response to my interactions with them!
So after speaking to their co-ordinator and getting a gist of the issues that they deal with, we decided to do an activity based session on the importance of them creating teamwork in their lives!
The session was highly energising in content and in result. Every participant interacted with each other with lots of smiles as they competed in the team games and then discussed their new found experiential learnings. It was really a pleasure to see them interact in sign language and scamper around the place trying to complete their activities. Even the 7 other normal volunteers were touched moved and inspired in playing team games with them.
We realised that even if these people are special, we can easily integrate them in our social activities. They are just as human as you and me, with same feelings, emotions, highs, lows and other aspirations. I ended with a note that I too could be their team member to support them in their goals.
And then after the session, one of the participants came back for a personal chat with me. ( the one in the black and white checks in the picture). Being a tailors son, he could continue his fathers business with his tailoring skills, instead he preferred to learn new computer skills for a new line of profession! He confessed that he was rejected in 4 interviews for jobs, because of his impaired hearing. I just had to give him a motivational talk replete with inspiring real life stories. I told him that every time he looked at an electric bulb, he had to remember the inventor Edison who failed more than 1000 times, yet still persisted till he got success. He suddenly seemed to have switched on his own light bulb in his new thinking! His 4 failures suddenly did not seem to matter…His new smile of confidence gave a new glow of light to his determined face! He said he would continue to learn more in computers and keep applying for new jobs!
So did you see how simple it is to create a new smile in a new face in your your small way?
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