Discover more about disability with The Discovery Festival

The annual Discovery Festival returns to Chelmsford this December to support the United Nation’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPwD).

Celebrated globally, IDPwD is acknowledged each year on 3 December with its aim to promote a positive image of people with disabilities, celebrating their achievements and increasing public understanding of disability. Over a billion people around the world live with a disability – that’s about 15 per cent of our population.

Now in its sixth year, the Discovery Festival will be running on Monday 3 December and Tuesday 4 December 2018, with activities taking place over two sites.

Discovery Days will return to Chelmsford Museum running from 10am-3pm offering an opportunity to experience a range of inclusive activities for all to enjoy, whilst encouraging visitors to learn more about disability. Activities and sessions that will be on offer include:

• Hands on interactive creative and sensory play from Action for Children and Something’s Missing.
• Inclusive sports activities including Table Cricket from Essex County Cricket Club.
• Educational activities around Autism from Chelmsford Museum, including quizzes, the I spy Trail, Visual Story Planning and Sensory Chill out Zone.
• Interactive Communication sessions, sensory story times and more from Inclusive Communication Essex.

The Discovery Festival Library Take Over will be held at County Hall between 10am-5pm and will showcase several local organisations and the services, support and activities they offer for those living with disabilities and their families. These include: Ace Music Therapy, Charms, Essex County Cricket Club, Hearing Help Essex, Limbless Association, Meadows Shopmobility, Papworth Trust and Support 4 Sight.

Alongside this there will be sessions and talks in the Ideas Hub within the library which will include: Creative Moods & Other Halves Craft groups, All Ears a Journey with Hearing Loss, Ace Music Therapy taster sessions and more.

Chelmsford City Council’s Champion for Disabled Children and Adults, Councillor Stephanie Scott, said “The Discovery Festival aims to highlight some of the great work that goes on across Chelmsford and between partner agencies to help those living with a disability and their families and carers.

At the city Council, we want to raise awareness of disability and promote the support available for those affected. This year’s event has many exciting interactive activities and sessions and I would encourage as many people as possible to come along and find out more.”

The Discovery Festival is free and open for everyone to attend. For full information and a timetable of events, please visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/DiscoveryFestival. Chelmsford Museum can be found at Oaklands Park, Moulsham St, Chelmsford CM2 9AQ and Chelmsford Library is in County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1QH.

To keep up-to-date with the ways in which Chelmsford’s local community are working towards a fully inclusive society, follow @DiscoverAbility on Facebook.

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