Vodafone Turkey Foundation Has Made Life Easier For More Than 170.000 People With Disabilities.

Vodafone Turkey Foundation continues to make life easier for people with disabilities by utilizing the transforming power of communication technologies in an effort to pioneer social change. The Foundation has supported more than 6.000 students in breaking down their barriers with over 19.000 volunteers since 2008 within the scope of Dreams Academy project, and made life easier for 3 million hearing impaired people and their relatives with “SIGN”, the most extensive sign language app in Turkey. The number of people with disabilities and disadvantages that Vodafone Turkey Foundation has reached through all of its projects is over 170.000.

Vodafone aims to inspire everyone in Turkey for a better future with communication technologies, and continues to reintegrate people with disabilities and social disadvantages into economic and social life through Vodafone Turkey Foundation that it has founded in 2007. More than 170.000 people with disabilities and disadvantages have been reached through social projects that have been carried out by Vodafone Turkey Foundation.

Vodafone Turkey Foundation has reached more than 6000 students with over 9.000 volunteers through “Dreams Academy” project that has been implemented in 2008 in cooperation with Alternative Life Association and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), while the amount granted to Vodafone Turkey Foundation’s “Dreams Academy” project is 5 million TL. On the other hand, the most extensive sign language app in Turkey, “SIGN”, which Vodafone Turkey Foundation has implemented through Dreams Academy, continues to make life easier for 3 million hearing impaired people and their relatives.

In the statement that he made for International Day of Persons with Disabilities on the 3rd of December, President of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, Hasan Süel said:

“We believe that we have to find permanent solutions for people with disabilities, who constitute a significant portion of the society. We are working hard to reintegrate our friends with disabilities into society. We must develop innovative projects with people with disabilities, not for them. It is a necessity to raise public awareness about the needs of people with disabilities, and about the ways they can contribute to society. Through social initiative projects like ‘Dreams Academy’, we must present a model that makes people with disabilities feel that they can be independent in life. We have touched the lives of more than 6.000 young people through ‘Dreams Academy’ project. On the other hand, with our sign language app, we have mobilized this training for 3 million hearing impaired people and their relatives, and offered it in a format that anyone can easily learn anytime in any place. As Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we are happy to reach more than 170.000 people with disabilities and disadvantages through the projects that we have carried out so far.”

Arts and Sports Support to People with Disabilities

Vodafone Turkey Foundation’s Dreams Academy project allows disadvantaged young people who have physical or psychological disabilities, or experience social exclusion because of financial difficulties, to express themselves through art, to create new ideas and to participate in the society as active, productive individuals. The headquarters in Ataşehir, İstanbul hosts arts workshops in the branches of theatre, dance, painting, instruments and photography, along with self-improvement workshops such as preparation for working life, communication skills, and personal coaching. In Kaş, Antalya facility, people with disabilities are taught painting, music, dance, sculpture and drama in arts; sailing, diving, climbing, football, tennis, yoga, volleyball and horseback riding in sports; and personal development, sign language, foreign language, photography, camera and scriptwriting in education.

App for Hearing Impaired People

Turkey’s most extensive sign language app “SIGN” is a first in Turkey in its field, in terms of incorporating lecture-like instructions in a fixed curriculum. The app that serves anyone who wants to learn the sign language consists of over 2.600 instructive videos, and a dictionary of nearly 1.400 words. The app can be downloaded for free on Google Play Store.