Casual Day had arrived, a day to celebrate people with disability, and we were pulling out all the stops to make sure our clients had an unforgettable experience.
Unlike the usual sea of blue, black and white, made up of the uniformed OT and Physiotherapy students, the bus stop on Friday was dotted with the colours of our various spring-themed outfits, garlands and flowers, in accordance with the 2015 Casual Day Theme: Spring into Action.
According to the Casual Day website,
"Casual Day is South Africa’s foremost fundraising campaign for persons with disabilities and is the flagship project of the National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in SA (NCPPDSA).(It is) a campaign that invites all fun-loving South Africans to dress differently for a day to raise funds and raise awareness of persons with disabilities."
(Casual Day, 2015)
To celebrate Casual Day at our fieldwork venue- a protected workshop setting catering for individuals with intellectual disability and various mental illnesses- we decided to hold an adapted Sports Day, incorporating fun activities, music and team spirit.
Our aim for Casual Day was threefold: to reduce institutionalisation of the clients by breaking their usual routine and encouraging spontaneity, to encourage teamwork and a sense of team spirit, as well as to simply make the day a true celebration of the people we were working with.
As our taxi pulled up to the venue that Friday, we experienced a moment of collective affection for our clients as we noticed the splashes of red, blue and yellow amongst the green, marking the three teams for casual day: the Red Ferraris (my amazing team!), the Blue Violets and the Yellow Lions. The clients had taken a great deal of care with their appearance, sporting flowered hats, multi-coloured temporary tattoos and a variety of floral accessories.
We were impressed.
Excitement was in the air as we disembarked from the taxi with all our luggage and began to set up.
The first activity, musical chairs, was a firm favourite of the workshop clients. The combination of movement, music and competition got everyone energised, starting the day off on the right foot. What I loved most about this classic game was that it was an equaliser for all the clients- whether high- or low-functioning- as it was simple enough that everyone could grasp the rules and have an equal chance to do well.
The competitive element became more evident in our second game of 'duster hockey', a hockey-like game played with brooms and a rag or paper ball. Initially, we had teams of two playing against each other, but after a mild altercation and one broken broom, the game was downgraded to a series of one-on-one matches, with people of equal abilities paired together. The best part of the game was watching how team members cheered for their participants, reinforcing a sense of inclusion and team spirit.
After tea, the merriment continued, with a tennis-ball and spoon relay, a hula-hoop competition, and finally a beanbag toss. The excitement mounted as the scores on the scoreboard rose steadily, and students, staff and clients all joined the fun. It was wonderful to watch the way quieter individuals gained confidence as the day progressed, and the way those who were initially reluctant to participate were drawn in by the fun atmosphere.
On Friday, I developed a deeper understanding of what it means to develop an 'enabling environment', a space that encourages and allows clients to perform to the best of their capabilities (WFOT, 2012). By setting the games at a level suited to every client, and creating an atmosphere that encouraged participation, people who would ordinarily have been unable or unwilling to engage in activity were able to join in, increasing their sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem.
Although it had been stressful to plan a day that we hoped everyone would enjoy, we hadn't anticipated the level of fun and learning we would get out of Casual Day. It will definitely remain one of the more positive memories of Psychosocial Fieldwork, the sort that overrides all the stress we associate with this module and makes it all worthwhile.
Casual Day (2015). What is Casual Day? Retrieved from http://www.casualday.co.za/what-is-casual-day/ on 4 September 2015
World Federation of Occupational Therapists (2012). Definition of Occupational Therapy. Retrieved from http://www.wfot.org/AboutUs/AboutOccupationalTherapy/DefinitionofOccupationalTherapy.aspx on 4 September 2015
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