Special kids leave lasting impressions

SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan—Thirty-three children with disabilities and their families last week spent a day outdoors without worries and joined a group of photographers in kite flying, fishing, games and a photography workshop at the San Roque Dam complex here.

Advertising photographer John Chua led a group of more than 40 volunteer photographers from Pangasinan and Tarlac for the Photography with a Difference (PWD) workshop here on Friday.

The workshop and other activities were aimed at children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), like 10-year-old Robert Kristian Zambrano, who is suffering from ADHD.

“We can easily identify children with physical disability, so we are able to understand at once their condition. But when it comes to children with autism, many people are not aware of their condition,” said Bien Mateo, vice president for operations of SM Supermalls, which is a partner in the project.

“Many people think that he is just a more playful kid compared to others. So they do not understand why he gets so angry when he doesn’t get what he wants,” said Zambrano’s mother, Cristina.

Chua said the PWD, also an acronym for “persons with disabilities,” is a nationwide advocacy-workshop to help special children by treating them and their families to a day of fun. It also gathers volunteer photographers to record the activity of these children for their families to keep.

“We would like to highlight the abilities above the disability. They have their own talents. There are special children who take very good shots using their own cameras… Those are the kinds of feats that our photographers would like to capture,” said Mateo.

The children joined parlor games, flew kites and were taught the basics of using a camera.

“Just look at that young girl trying to fly that butterfly kite. Her family would love to keep that memory of her having fun and being worry-free forever,” said Chua.

He said he started the PWD to give photography a different face by capturing rare experiences and emotions of special children.

At least one photographer was assigned to guide a child during the workshop.

The group later toured the dam and saw foot-long tilapia being grown in the reservoir.