Making Room for Every Learner
OZAMIZ CITY - The latest Ozamiz Division memorandum asks schools to observe Cerebral Palsy and Protection Week through appropriate awareness-raising and advocacy activities. It specifically encourages messages that promote awareness, understanding, acceptance, respect, and support for learners with cerebral palsy and their families. Rather than limiting the observance to a single event, schools may incorporate information into existing school activities, including flag ceremonies and relevant learning areas. That approach gives teachers and students opportunities to encounter the message during ordinary school routines. For children, repeated exposure to conversations about inclusion can make differences easier to understand and help create classrooms where participation is valued.
From Awareness to Everyday Inclusion
This year's national theme, “One Shared Voice, One Collective Choice: Advocacy to Empowerment,” places participation alongside awareness. The National Council on Disability Affairs identifies September 16–22, 2026 as the 23rd Cerebral Palsy Awareness and Protection Week, while the Ozamiz memorandum encourages learners, parents, guardians, teachers, school personnel, and other education stakeholders to take part. That combination is important because inclusion involves more than knowing that cerebral palsy exists. It also means creating opportunities for learners with disabilities to be heard, respected, supported, and included in school life. In Ozamiz, the observance provides a timely setting for those conversations to happen across different parts of the school community.
A School Culture Built on Respect
The Ozamiz Division also directs school heads to integrate activities related to the observance into relevant learning areas and existing programs while minimizing disruption to regular classes. This makes the week less about adding another item to an already busy school calendar and more about connecting disability awareness with lessons and everyday interactions. Families can reinforce the same message outside school by encouraging children to listen, avoid hurtful assumptions, offer appropriate help, and recognize the abilities of people with disabilities. With the national observance centered on advocacy and empowerment, Ozamiz schools have a timely opportunity to make inclusion part of the conversation—not just during one week, but throughout the school year.
