Second MoU signing mission completed... or SPD at SU signs MoU with DE at KU

Today we met with Professor Parajuli, Dr. Suresh Gautam and Dr. Amina Singh at the Department of Education, Kathmandu University.

Here's to joint collaboration to broaden the understanding of what special education needs and challenges are in respect to inclusivity! Because this is the point isn't it, participation in society throughout life?

Our colleagues here in Kathmandu articulated it all so well. Disability definitions and inclusion definitions are contingent upon context in everyday situations and the learning that takes place there, in families, schools and communities. Well, they said it much better but, something more like hierarchies of diversities which are very context specific, indicators of inclusivity...

Like geography and topology (or is it topography... think height and earth). Not exactly the first thing you think about when it comes to access to education but spend about 10 minutes in this country and suddenly you figure out that your home's altitude means as much as a number of other marginalizing factors (caste, ethnicity, language, poverty, disability and the ever present gender roulette). So, there. Add this type of access (or accesslessness), this definition of accessibility, and disability undoubtedly takes on a context specific meaning. Is disability a matter of either/or/and "just" the built environment and bodily located impairment?

That's about all I can muster in Academish right now. Speaking of dialects... there are 125 recognized languages in Nepal and the linguists' number is much higher....

We assured Professor Parajuli that we would not have come all this way just to let the signed paper to end up like many of the others their department has signed over the years (25 to be exact). We are really please that Suresh is able to come to the conference in June. I will write more about that soon.