Open the Door for "WE"
India's 25th Annual Talent Show for Specially-Abled Youth
by Ishita Sanyal, founder of Turning Point India & leader of Global Play Brigade India
Ashwini is a young person living in a remote area of West Bengal, India. He has been a member of Turning Point India – an organization that fights mental health stigma – for several few years now. Very aware of his moderate intellectual disability, low vision, and speech difficulties, Ashwini hardly spoke or participated in activities at first. I would hardly see him getting pleasure and enjoying life. He was not accustomed to the Zoom interface so when we started virtual Global Play Brigade sessions in India, Ashwini would silently join with his father or sister. With this in mind, I was quite surprised to witness his significant change and development through the process of Open the Door 2023.
Turning Point,
in collaboration with Global Play Brigade, presented the virtual
Open The Door
online program on 7th January, 2023 to commemorate its 25th year of journey in the field of mental health.
Open the Door is a global event that showcases the talents of specially-abled people. This often ignored population gets an opportunity to connect with people around the world; to play together, to have fun, to build, and to re-initiate development together in a secure and enthusiastic environment. This is creating the magic - the magic of performance & connection with others.
The annual talent show features music, poetry, drama, and dance performances punctuated by interactive games for the whole audience to join. In one such game, we created a new world music by imitating and pretending to play with traditional instruments of India. It was hard to believe that participants were not actually playing the instruments – just singing the sounds and moving their bodies as if they were playing. Debarshi and his father performed so well that it appeared as if they played the music themselves, their body language showing the happiness, enthusiasm, and satisfaction of a musician. Binita, the mother of a new
Turning Point member, was so overwhelmed with joy by the
Open the Door
performance and games activities during
Open the Door
that she invited all the participants to come to India and offered to host!
In preparation for
Open the Door,
Ashwini appeared regularly for rehearsals. On the day of the virtual event, though he once again sat beside his sister during the show, I was surprised to see him smiling and willing to participate. His burst of energy and enjoyment was clearly connected to joining with people from all corners of the world. GPB creates an environment where “WE” feeling predominates, people get an environment to express themselves creatively, and make something meaningful with their pain and challenges. They become open and flexible to learn, curious about people all over the world, and gain the patience and acceptance for every human being. It softens the borders, man-made divisions, and discriminations. As "Listen [and play] with your heart, " one facilitator instructed.
