Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many families have been forced to quarantine, isolate or stay at home. In families with adolescent or adult sons or daughters, the social and emotional needs of connecting with other adolescents and adults are not being met. These needs are further complicated when they present for adolescents and adults with disabilities or special needs.

As adolescents and adults with disabilities may experience difficulties in connecting and interacting with their peers due to special communication needs, Covid-19 related quarantining seems to affect them in two critical ways. The first is the effect of isolation in terms of physical distance from peers. This effect is partially met through screen interactions. The second effect is the relative limitations in social communication due to disabilities, and the mitigation of those limitations through direct peer to peer contact which involves an embodied way of communication.

For all these reasons, and keeping in the mind the social needs of adolescents and adults, Sangam offers a day of ‘meet and greet’ with a view to enable adolescents and adults with disabilities or special needs to meet peers in a social setting for a day of making new friends, exploring social interactions and participating in art, play and other activities.

It is expected that through these meetings and collaborations, adolescents and adults will be able to make something greater – a greater strength and resilience to cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic through making social communication easier and encouraging the making of peer-relationships