> 1st International Festival For Young People With Intellectual Disabilities - Antalya 22-28 April 2007

> Occupational Project 2007

> Leonardo Da Vinci Project 2007

     In a project which was supported by the European Union Youth Program, arranged between the 22nd and 28th April 2007 for 6 days, Special Athletes Youth and Sport Association (SAYSA) hosted 6 leaders, 6 companions and 24 athletes from Italy, Greece, Ireland, Slovenia and Sweden. The aim of this project was to bring together young people with intellectual disability by using sports activities, to help them to establish friendships, cooperation and solidarity between each other, as well as to gain a measure of independence from their families. Athletes participating in this Project should be 15 to 25 year-old, having intellectual disability children, coming from a low socio-economic background and trained in competitive sports for at least 8 weeks.

     During this six-day program, team and individual sports activities, group plays, art activities, trips and activities to improve teamwork were planned for children with intellectual disability , as well as informative and communicative meetings and various trips for the leaders and companions. Groups were able to participate in the annual ’Antalya Special Olympic Games’ during two days of the program, so that young people with intellectual disabilities would have the chance to get to know each other and Turkish young people through sports, and taking part in activities together.
This project made it possible to develop new methods and cooperation between similar youth groups and working organizations. Learning about each of the different participating countries and their policies regarding the educational system for young people with intellectual disability, their opportunities for employment and their ability to live independently would prove very helpful for us in the discovery, improvement and evaluation of new ideas and solutions to the problems experienced in our country by people with intellectual disability.

     The non-governmental organizations in our country find it difficult to escape the vicious circle they are in, because they do not have sufficient knowledge of international applications, and they do not make sufficient use of European references in their own studies. The cooperation, mutual exchange of information about their studies and working fields, and development of new cooperative projects between local and foreign non-governmental organizations towards people with intellectual disability will lead to improvements in the lifestyles of the people with intellectual disability and their families, as well as the organization of new projects to develop an awareness of volunteerism in university students.