Mérida’s Plaza Grande turned into a deafblind awareness center

Mérida, Yucatán, (June 28, 2021).- The Graffiti Tejido activity was carried out on Sunday, June 27th, in the Plaza Grande, where people gathered to open a space for awareness and a form of artistic and symbolic expression to commemorate the International Day of Deafblindness.

With the presence of members of the Inclusive Network for Disability, people shared positions on the need to open spaces for people with one or multiple disabilities.

Although the activity was scheduled to begin on Saturday, this was not possible due to weather issues, however, on Sunday, the organization Deafblind International, a Canadian-based non-profit organization, was able to carry out the event.

The organization has joined forces so that deafblind people have access to different basic services.

In this regard, Emelia Hernández Payán, member of the Inclusive Network for Disability and consultant for the Perkins International of the Pixan Project, indicated that it was a very participatory activity and that some people with disabilities followed the event via social networks.

“The event was very beautiful, very crowded and people with blindness were present, who witnessed this event, which is very important for those who have a disability,” she said.

The embroideries that were made were placed on the tree stems in the Plaza Grande and on the benches in that space, to make deafblindness visible.

Hernández Payán specified that in the end about 50 people met who contributed with the delivery of an embroidery woven with threads of different colors. At the event, it was possible to hear some testimonies from people who have relatives with this disability, while the attendees who were directly involved in the activity, formed the word ‘Deafblindness’ as a photographic stop.

The participation of the Yucatecan people was added to that of other states of the Mexican Republic, as several states uploaded their photos to the Facebook page Graffiti Tejido México.

The embroideries that were created had an approximate size of 40 centimeters in length and width, they were placed to adorn public spaces and, so people with this disability can identify the zones or areas by touch.

The pieces of embroidery were in place during the event, so everyone could make use of them. And also as part of the activities, there was a conference on the trajectory of Helen Adams Keller, an American deafblind writer, speaker, and political activist, who due to an illness had a total loss of vision and hearing.

Source: La Jornada Maya