Ilsur Metshin visits the Mechta recreatinal center for the disabled after the renovation

The Mechta recreational center for the disabled on Pavlyukhina Street in Kazan resumes classes after the renovation. Adults and children with health restrictions are able to take classes on drawing and needlework. Dmitry Dudkin, a graduate of the volunteer courses for working with children with disabilities of the ANO Good Kazan, the winner of the Paw of Friendship grant competition of the Department of Education, conducts dog therapy classes with the help of a specially trained dog. Today, the Mayor of the city Ilsur Metshin visited the renovated institution and presented its head with a certificate for the development of the center.

“We are trying to systematically help children with disabilities. And your motto “Diagnosis is not a verdict” says that you can live with it and develop the abilities that children have. We will implement these practices. We have adaptive apartments, inclusive recreational centers, theater studios where they help to reveal the talents of children with disabilities. There should be such a center in every district of Kazan, and we will help to implement such projects,”- the head of the city stressed.

The renovation of the family recreational center, which has been operating since 2015, began this summer. As the president of the regional public organization of parents of disabled children Nadezhda Titova said, repairs were carried out in the premises, the floors were insulated, furniture was purchased. The work was carried out with the support of the Kazan Mayor’s Office and the parents of children. The Mayor of Kazan inspected the renovated premises of the center, talked with the staff and got acquainted with the drawings.

Classes are available for people of any age and with any diagnosis. At the moment, the center is visited by adults and children under 5 years old, in total about 60-70 families. Here, children with disabilities can engage in drawing and needlework: create toys or ceramic products. So, on December 1, an inclusive exhibition Green Bird opened in the Gallery of Contemporary Art of the State Museum of Fine Arts of the republic of Tatarstan, which included drawings by the students of the Mechta center.

The center also has a recording studio available for hard of hearing and deaf children. A new class has also opened– a dog therapy, classes are conducted with the help of specially selected and trained dogs. “This is emotional rehabilitation. To pet the dog, the child needs to stretch out his hand to feed – unclench his fingers. This is both overcoming fear and motivation. When a child tries to make certain movements that are difficult for him to do in regular life, a therapeutic effect is obtained,”- Nadezhda Titova explained to the Mayor.

The head of the city talked to the cynologist Dmitry Dudkin, a graduate of the volunteer courses for working with children with disabilities of the ANO Good Kazan, the winner of the Paw of Friendship grant competition of the Department of Education. He told the Mayor about the peculiarities of conducting dog therapy classes.

The organization plans to open a sewing workshop, as well as purchase consumables for drawing classes. Ilsur Metshin presented the head of the center with a certificate for the implementation of these plans.