International Day of People with Disabilities: A day at Aviva!

The 1st of December marks the International Day of People with Disabilities. This is an important day for the Inclusive Norwich Partnership - we were happy to be invited by Aviva to their offices to share the message of the project.

An image of the gorgeous Marble Hall at Aviva Norwich

Our stall was in the busy area in front of Marble Hall, called the Atrium. This is a hall, known to be the space for enrichment, events and lunch for Aviva staff. The afternoon was packed with lots of different stalls working in the disability sector, and a couple of Christmas stalls too!

We attended with our leaflets, and we were lucky to be gifted some technology by Aviva, for the day, to illustrate how different the lives of disabled people can be.

An image of the Inclusive Norwich Partnership stall at an Aviva event.

On the left-hand side of the image above, a virtual reality headset can be seen. This contained technology that is able to stimulate the lived experience of autism through video clips. This was incredibly popular with attendees and Aviva staff.

Next to the headset, some hand gloves can be seen. Once on, the plastic rods replicate the feeling of arthritis - it is tough to bend your fingers!

And finally, we were kindly gifted some paper glasses that stimulate vision impairments. Engineered by the University of Cambridge, this was an interesting activity that sprung conversations about eye tests, preventative health and degenerative diseases, as well as the lived experiences of people who are blind.

A manual of visual impairment simulation glasses

This was a really fun and insightful afternoon for the INP, and we appreciated the conversations we had with attendees, fellow stall holders and the Aviva staff. We're confident that we were able to celebrate the International Day of People with Disabilities well!

We also appreciate that we were able to participate in the Pets Are Therapy stall, who were also at the event! Below is a festive furry friend we met on the day.

Pictured is a festive-looking, blonde Labrador-Golden retriever cross breed dog.

Thanks to Aviva for inviting us to the celebration, and we look forward to the 1st of December next year!