Guiding Little Friends and Guides with disabilities
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The Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association (SLGGA), was initiated in 1917 at Girls’ High School Kandy and just seven years later, in 1924, the SLGGA expanded to involve girls and young women who were hearing and sight impaired. This resulted in the formation of the Branch for the Handicapped.
Today the branch has over 500 members from special education units in schools and institutions islandwide. Guide Leaders of these special education units in schools and institutions are trained to accommodate the different disabilities of their Guides.
The Branch for the Guides with Disabilities is in the process of integrating the disabled Girl Guides with the regular Girl Guide, enabling them to learn from each other with care and empathy. To make this process smooth, the Branch for the Guides with Disabilities has formulated a book with Guidelines for the Guide Leaders (teachers) and a record book for the disabled Girl Guides. The challenges included in these books are similar to the challenges the regular Guides take on but simplified to cater to the different types of disabilities.
The highest award a Guide with disabilities could achieve is the Blue All Round Cord. The books are a guide for them to achieve this highest award which is equal to the President’s Guide Award achieved by a regular Guide. The highest award for Little Friends (Wings Award) remains the same for all.
The launch of the two books focusing on encouraging disabled Little Friends and Guides to reach their fullest potential and be responsible citizens was made possible with the immense support rendered by FAIRMED headed by Dr. Nayani Suriyarachchi.
The books can be purchased from the Girl Guides Association, No. 10. Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha, Colombo 7,
tel: 011 2695720
