SM City Iloilo, through the SM Cares Program on Persons with Disabilities, promotes a barrier-free and disability inclusive environment to ensure that SM becomes a place for all and a mall for all.
The mall sees to it that no one gets left behind. Every Filipino, with or without disability, is welcome in SM. The SM Cares Program on Persons with Disabilities helps promote awareness, acceptance, and inclusion for the sector.
This July 2019, main groups and organizations that promote the welfare of Persons with Disabilities(PWDs) in Iloilo, are going to hold events in SM City Iloilo to celebrate this year’s National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation(NDPR) Week.
The Persons With Disability Affairs Office(PDAO) of Iloilo City will showcase talents and capabilities of their members on July 25 and 26 at the Cyberzone area, 1pm-5pm.
The Breaking Barriers for Young Adults with Disabilities(BBY-Iloilo) will hold an On-the-Spot Poster-Making Contest 10am onwards also in the Cyberzone area on July 22. SPED-ISEC likewise will hold a program at the Northpoint Event Center on July 24 at 2pm-4pm.
The Association of Disabled Persons in Iloilo(ADPI) have prepared special programs for the yearly celebration and is preparing an exhibit in the mall on July 17-23 of the products made by their members.
The SM Cares Program on PWDs have instituted key programs to address the needs of customers with special needs, which earned its reputation for being the most PWD-friendly establishment across the country. The malls have dedicated areas for parking and proper embarkation and disembarkation for PWDs, special restrooms, ramps, some have braille signs, designed areas for PWDs in cinemas, as well as utilities with accessible height like pay phones and wash room sinks. There are also PWD lifts in designated areas in the mall.
Consistently over the years, SM Cares has been awarded the National Government’s Apolinario Mabini Hall of Fame Award for its Programs on Persons with Disabilities.
The program has been partners with a number of organizations that hold different initiatives to advance the best interests of PWDs in the community. Some of them include the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), Autism Society Philippines (ASP), the Down Syndrome Association of the Philippines, Inc. (DSAPI), Deaf-Blind Support Philippines (DBSP), Center for Advocacy, Learning and Livelihood (CALL) Foundation of the Blind, Inc., the Philippine Foundation for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Inc. (PFRD), Movies and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), and AKAP Pinoy, among others.
Some of the Program’s notable initiatives which were held in partnership with the above-mentioned organizations include the annual Angels Walk for Autism, Happy Walk for Down Syndrome, Special Movie Screening for the Blind and Deaf, White Cane Day for the Blind, Disaster Resilience Conference for PWDs and Senior Citizens, and special concerts for the benefit of the Filipino PWD. Similarly, all tenants, employees, and front liners are given orientations and training on how to handle customers with disabilities and special needs.
In SM City Iloilo, an annual Caring for Special Customers seminar for its tenants, guards, maintenance personnel and mall employees is being conducted by the mall, in partnership with PWD groups, to make sure that frontliners are equipped with knowledge on how to properly address concerns of the sector when they come and visit the mall.
For inquiries of the details of the events for NDPR Week, you can contact (033) 3209609 or visit the official Facebook of SM City Iloilo.
