Prof. Sevda Asqarova: "The biggest obstacle is absence of love. If there is love, there is no obstacle"

Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Occupational Therapy, Cerebral Palsy and Occupational Therapy Club and Music Therapy Application and Research Center (MUTM) organized the "The 3rd Symposium on Touch and Change Boundaries with Occupational Therapy" within the scope of December 3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The symposium, led by Prof. Sevda Asqarova, Head of the Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Üsküdar University, was held in four sessions. "

The opening speeches of the symposium, which was held online within the scope of "December 3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities", were made by Üsküdar University Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Department Head Prof. Sevda Asqarova, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin and Vice Rector Prof. Mehmet Zelka.

Prof. Sevda Asqarova: "The biggest obstacle is absence of love, if there is love, there is no obstacle"

Prof. Sevda Asqarova, who made the opening speech, stated that they organized the symposium to raise awareness in the society. Emphasizing the aim of revealing the strengths of people with disabilities through occupational therapy, Asqarova said that "We gathered today on a very meaningful day, and we organized the third symposium 'Touch and Change Boundaries with Occupational Therapy' with the aim to draw attention to the difficulties experienced by people with disabilities, to raise awareness in the society and to change negative perceptions about disability. The whole world respects the rights of people with disabilities, tries to understand their difficulties and looks for ways to be a more inclusive spirit together. This year, as Üsküdar University Occupational Therapy Department, we are here on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities with the aim to emphasize the strengths of people with disabilities and to bring the society together. Our main goal is to address the developments and changes in occupational therapy methods by making the daily lives of disabled people more independent, effective, and satisfying. Let's not forget that each of us is a candidate for disability. The biggest obstacle is lack of love, if there is love, there is no obstacle."

Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin: "The concept of disability is discussed a lot in the world"

Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences Dean Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin stated that "Disability is a phenomenon that can happen to all of us in our lifetime. In the past, people who came to visit our country appreciated us very much and said: 'How beautiful it is that there are no disabled people in your country.' Why did they appreciate it? Because no disabled person was going out against society at that time. Now, since we have created infrastructures in our country, our disabled citizens have the right to participate in society. Even the concept of disability has become very controversial and talked about in the world. People's blinking is also a fingertip gesture, and in the future, I believe, the barriers associated with communicating with their thoughts are disappearing. One of the well-known examples in the world in this regard is a very famous scientist, writer, cosmologist and physics engineer Stephen Hawking. He has made great contributions to the world, especially in the field of medicine, especially in terms of these cosmic events. In our country, for example, Hamide Doğan Türk has a disability below her waist as a result of an accident, but she is one of our national athletes, she has many medals. She received an award and became a mother at the same time. These are popular examples in the world for our country as well. I would expect all our people to develop methods that cannot be compared to disabilities to the whole world, but that these obstacles do not have a negative impact on their lives when compared to disabilities."

Prof. Mehmet Zelka: "As long as people with disabilities are believed, they have extraordinary talents"

Üsküdar University Vice Rector Prof. Mehmet Zelka emphasized the importance of celebrating the Day of Persons with Disabilities. Zelka stated that "Man is a perfectly created being, even the most perfectly created. One of the most important characteristics that human beings possess is the feature of being a social being. Due to this feature, people are in a serious interaction with their environment while living together with their environment, not alone. It is not possible for a person to lead a happy life alone, to lead a prosperous life. However, if the people around him are happy, prosperous, and in good shape, it may be possible for that person to be good, to be in good shape, to be happy. In this respect, the fact that people with disabilities lead a life that is close to human beings will enable not only them, but also all those who live with them, together with their families, and the entire community to lead a dignified life, a prosperous life, a happy life. In this respect, in overcoming obstacles, all units, all institutions and individuals have duties according to their institutions and structures. People with disabilities have other powerful abilities that are extraordinarily developed. If they are given the opportunity and trusted, it is possible for us to benefit from those opportunities and those powers in a very serious way. As a matter of fact, when we look at it today, it is possible to witness various successes of our disabled citizens in many fields, as we can see in the news every day. Among them, there are some politicians we all know, as well as sports people. There are also scientists. In other words, as long as they are trusted, as long as they are believed, as long as they are given the opportunity, in this respect, it will be possible for us to allow these citizens to contribute to both social life, economic life and cultural life. The celebrations of the Day of Persons with Disabilities are important and these celebrations are of a remarkable nature in terms of raising awareness.

"Prof. İsmail Barış: "If there is no obstacle, there is no disability"

After the opening speeches, the sessions started. Head of the Department of Social Work at Üsküdar University İsmail Barış emphasized the fundamentals of accessibility and discrimination in his speech. Prof. İsmail Barış stated that: "The motto about disability is ‘If there is no obstacle, there is no disability. If there are no barriers, if we have removed the barriers, there are disabled people, but there is no disability. Now, when we look at it from this perspective, we see disability studies on two concept, accessibility and discrimination, and these two concepts are essentially in an indirect relationship. The lack of accessibility conditions triggers discrimination and feeds discrimination. In fact, we look at it within the framework of disability-related rights in our country, an additional article was added to an article of the Law No. 3194 in 1997, and there are various regulations regarding the field of accessibility. However, despite all these regulations, it is possible to say whether we have reached the accessibility point we want in our country. Although there are so many things that have been done, there are some things that we expect to be done or that we expect even more positive results from being done. The concept of accessibility should be filled with a rights-based understanding. In order to fill in the concept, the services to be provided for our disabled people must be from a rights-based understanding. In order to remove the obstacles in front of them, it is to ensure that non-governmental organizations and individual employees related to the field put their hands under the stone."

In the first session, the Head of the Disability Care Program Instructor Bekir Güçlü made a presentation titled "Disabled Care Program". Those who also made a presentation are as follows: VSHS Instructor Hilmi Bakır with the presentation titled "New Technology for the Disabled from the Past to the Future", Midwifery Department Instructor Ebru Sağıroğlu with the presentation titled "Access of Physically Disabled Women to Health Care Services during Pregnancy, Childbirth and Postpartum Period" and Health Sciences Graduate Student Occupational Therapist Zümrüt YeniDünya with the presentation titled "The Effect of Occupational Therapy Applications on Upper Extremity Functionality in Children with Cerebral Palsy".

the second session, Prof. İsmail Barış gave a presentation on "Social Services for the Disabled within the Ministry of Family", and those who also made a presentation are as follows: Kent University structor and Founder of the "Sensory House" Center Dr. Ümran Erkanat Taylan with the presentation titled "Animal Assisted Therapy and Fine Motor Skill in Down Syndrome", Meryem Güney who is mother of an Individual with Special Education Needs with the presentation titled "Disability from a Mother's Perspective", Criminal Crime Writer Talha Yıldız with the presentation titled "Starting Again", Institute of Health Sciences Graduate Student Occupational Therapist İremnur Soylu with the presentation titled "Nutrition Therapy for Disabled dividuals" and Language and Speech Therapy 3rd year student Hamide Eteş with the presentation titled "Voice Disorders in Disabled dividuals".

The third session, Together We Are Founder Special Needs Education Director Akif Ülger made a presentation titled "Academic Success in Special Education", and those who also made a presentation are as follows: Specialist Physiotherapist Ebru Özker with the presentation titled "School Adaptation Process of Disabled Individuals", Specialist Language and Speech Therapist Gamze Kaya İşlek with the presentation titled "Language and Speech in Individuals with Special Needs", Specialist Psychologist Dr. Rahime GÖKBOĞA with the presentation titled "Risky Baby and Early Intervention in Special Education" and FHS Graduate Researcher Emine Çakır with the presentation titled "Every Heart Opens to Love, and the Secret Key Is Closer Than Us".

The fourth session was held by the Head of the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan who made a presentation on "Occupational Health and Safety of Disabled Individuals". Those who made their presentations at the session are as follows: Department of Child Development Instructor Elif Konar Özkan with the presentation titled "Story and Fairy Tale Therapy", Department of Occupational Therapy Instructor İsa Kör with the presentation titled "Integration of the Disabled into Society", Exp. Occupational Therapist Emre Erdoğan with the presentation titled "Home Arrangement for Disabled Individuals", Occupational Therapy Department second year student Tuğçe Ceren Kevran with the presentation titled "Occupational Therapy Approaches in Different Types of Disability", and Occupational Therapy Department4th year student Çağla Özcan with the presentation titled "Occupational Therapy Interventions for Individuals with Stroke".

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)