December 3rd is the “International Disability Day”, and various celebration activities are held around the world. Taichung City’s Department of Social Affairs held several activities in the motorcycle parking lot of Wen-shin Forest Park(near the Shiang-shang Road) from 1:30 to 5:00 pm. The activities included shows performed by disabled people which ranged from singing and dancing to instrumental performances. There were also several booths and as well as items sold to benefit charities. Those who visited the campaign had a wonderful weekend.

The United Nations announced that 1981 was the “Year of Disabled People” and passed a resolution in October of 1992 to announce that December 3rd would be the “International Disability Day”. Many countries hold special events in honor of this special day. The theme for Taichung City’s International Disability Day was “Love without Barriers”.

The sponsor for the 2009 International Disability Day was Central Taiwan’s Office of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation. The name of the campaign was “Love Olympics” in order to help encourage people to never give up when facing the everyday challenges that make up the game of life.

To enhance people’s understanding of disabled people and celebrate the 2009 International Disability Day, the campaign arranged a “Love and Olympics.” There were “barrier games” in which disabled people acted as the “barricade keepers.” Through the use of specially designed barricades, the challenger experienced the different kinds of barriers that disabled people might encounter and learned how to conquer them. Those challengers who passed all of the barricades won a set of highlighters as their prize.

The Taiwan Guide Dog Association took adorable guide dogs to promote the “Four Don’ts and One Do” principle that should be used when helping a blind person with a seeing-eye dog. The “4 NOs” included “No touching, No Yelling, No Feeding, and No Refusing” while the “One Do” was “Ask” if the blind person needs any help. The Department of Social Affairs urged citizens to treat disabled people kindly with love and care instead of discrimination and prejudice.