GCF Thailand Site Visit 2010

The annual GCF site visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand took place from January to March 2010. As always the time is filled with many exciting educational activities sponsored by the Global Campus participants there. For example, the Director of Global Campus Chiang Mai, Yutthaphon Damrongchuensakun, lead a dynamic project for which he had written and received a grant of 190,000 baht ($6,000) from Thai organizations. The project focused on assessment of accessibility at major recreational and cultural venues in Chiang Mai province. The campus participants designed an educational approach in which different groups of 8-10 campus participants with varying abilities (across the spectrum of disabilities including aging) traveled to 9 sites and noted accessibility challenges. For many, this was their first opportunity to visit Thailand’s famous places such as the highest mountain, royal gardens, hot springs and temples, so the excitement was very high. After touring each site, they then immediately met in a prescheduled seminar to present to directors and staff members at each venue. The participants presented a historical perspective about societal attitudes and behaviors toward persons who experience disability to educate and raise awareness of their audience and then proceeded to address the specific accessibility issues at each venue. This proactive approach was very well received and appreciated by the directors and staff and lead to their affirmation to make changes in a timely manner. All agreed that not only will persons who experience disability benefit from updated accessibility, but every visitor, Thai and foreign, will also. A daylong culminating conference in March was held where all involved shared their findings and planned for future educational projects as a follow up. Yutthaphon has since reported that the sponsoring organizations reviewed his grant report and findings and identified the Global Campus Chiang Mai project as the best practices model. It is hoped they can apply the GCC Accessibility Model in other regions of Thailand and make a major difference.

Another outstanding project that Global Campus participants influenced was a Disability Short Film Festival and Awards Event. Students from various universities in the Northern region of Thailand competed in short film making about the issues related to experiencing disability. Kachakorn Thaveesri, GCF Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia, served as a film judge and co-organizer of this impressive event. Chiang Mai University graduate and undergraduate students involved in a club, Friends Beyond Physical, were the major sponsors of this event. Global Campus participants served as panelists and assisted with the various tasks related to such a big event. The short films were aired for a week at a large public venue in Chiang Mai so that a large population would have the opportunity to view the films and raise their awareness. The culminating event was the award ceremony for the outstanding filmmakers.

During this site visit, GCF administrators and Global Campus Chiang Mai administrators fulfilled an important goal in securing a university-wide memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chiang Mai University. Since 2006, GCF had formalized its long standing collegial relationship with this university in a MOU with the Faculty of Education; however this new agreement makes it possible for Global Campus participants to extend its ground breaking, influential work to more students and faculty in CMU’s 20 Faculties (Colleges). We look forward to sharing the impressive details of their educational activities in future newsletter articles and blog entries. Stay tuned!