The Inclusive Ludoteca de Guareña started up at the end of September last year in a location provided by the city council. This initiative of ADISCAGUA, Association of People with Disabilities of Guareña and Comarca, supported by the Social Welfare Area of the Provincial Council of Badajoz, “has had great impact on the town and its surroundings,” says its mayor and provincial deputy, Abel González. .
Of the 190 projects favored by the institution, this Guareña project is one of the most notable for its purposes and achievements, becoming a pioneer in the region, as stated by the vice president of ADISCAGUA, Dolores Aguado: “we would like to serve as an example and that spread and new toy libraries like this were opened in other cities,” he declares.
The one in Guareña, adds Abel González, serves boys and girls from 4 to 8 years old from Guareña and surrounding towns such as Valdetorres, Manchita and Cristina. Given its social and welfare impact, the deputy emphasizes, “I congratulate ADISCAGUA, especially its president and vice president.”
The head of the Association, Pedro González Serrano, explains that the fight for social inclusion and integration are basic pillars in the work they do. In the case of the toy library, work is done through play and learning. This project, highlights its president, has had a great impact on families with disabled children as it provides respite and support for them. Free of charge and with a membership registration, the play center welcomes these people three days a week.
González Serrano explains that there are currently 50 children with different disabilities attending, whether physical, intellectual or both at the same time. And without them, because “it seeks integration through common games,” he specifies, while also pursuing parents’ awareness of their children’s situation. That is why it is so important for towns like Guareña and others in rural areas since it makes it possible to improve the lives of these children with disabilities and their families, achieving full social, educational and labor integration.
This inclusive play center is directed by an early childhood education teacher and an occupational therapist who offer these children a complete program of leisure and learning activities, including inclusive games that help them learn to respect differences, as well as psychomotor game workshops. , sensory, cooperative and musical.
It is not necessary to be associated with ADISCAGUA to attend the toy library nor does it have any cost for users, although they hope to continue receiving the support of institutions and companies to continue with their work.
Pedro González would like to express his gratitude to the city council of Guareña for the transfer of the facilities and to the social work of La Caixa for their financial contributions, in addition to the companies and other entities that have collaborated, for example, in the signage or the wood for the furniture, manufactured by the wood department of the IES “Eugenio Frutos”, or with the drawings of the three disabled characters that hang on the walls of the play center and represent a girl in a wheelchair, a blind child with his dog and another little girl with Dowm syndrome, made by Fine Arts student Nerea López. He also thanks the “Eugenio Frutos” library for donating a collection of books.