On April 5th of this year, Redefy hosted a book discussion on RJ Palacio's book, Wonder at the Princeton Public Library. This was a guided book discussion to touch on the subject of preconceived notions about people who are different and embracing one another's differences. The book discussion was followed by a screening of Bend It Like Beckham. The goal of Redefy is to challenge the perceptions of teenagers about underrepresented populations. For the year 2014, Redefy's mission is to promote an understanding of the challenges faced by special needs children and working to integrate with those who have special needs or disabilities. This project is needed because children with special needs are more likely to experience bullying than neurotypical children:
-A study in the British Journal of Learning Support found much higher rates of bullying in children with special needs. The researchers indicated that 60 percent of students with special needs reported being bullied compared to 25 percent of the general student population.
-Researchers have discovered that students with disabilities were more worried about school safety and being injured or harassed by other peers compared to students without a disability (Saylor & Leach, 2009).
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-In a report in the Journal of Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, children with special needs or a disability are ten times more likely to be bullied than the neurotypical student. Current federal statistics show that 15 percent to 25 percent of neurotypical school age children are bullied with some frequency.
-The National Autistic Society reports that 40 percent of children with autism and 60 percent of those with Asperger’s syndrome have experienced bullying.
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Ziad Ahmed founded Redefy in 2013 as a freshman at Princeton Day School (PDS). "I wanted to initiate a positive change in the world. I conceived this idea because as a young Muslim teenager I found that most people had pre-conceived notions about me and I saw my friends facing similar challenges," stated Ziad. "I founded Redefy to help young people understand that people don't conform to stereotypes and that if you give people a chance, you may even become friends."
This was an international campaign being carried out by 17 students across the nation and the world. "Reading a book from the perspective of a child with special needs really helps to put us in their shoes. The leadership team at Redefy agreed that the book, Wonder really inspired empathy and understanding for those with special needs," stated Ziad. "Encouraging young people to read this book helped them understand the challenges that special needs children face on a daily basis and helped to build bridges of understanding and hopefully also friendships with those who have special needs". Close to 50 people attended the event and the librarians from Princeton Public Library stated that Redefy was successful in starting the dialogue to challenge stereotypes about the special needs population.
On Monday, April 7th the Redefy leadership team went to John Witherspoon Middle School (JW) in Princeton to hold a Wonder program for sixth graders which included both, students from the general education as well as special education populations. The leadership team of Redefy worked with a group of 15 students. They shared their thoughts about the book. "We had really engaging discussions with discussion questions that the leadership team had composed which were aimed at facing deeply ingrained prejudices and working towards overcoming those prejudices," stated Ziad. "It was so moving to hear the students talk and to learn more about the challenges that so many of us face on a daily basis. We are also planning to host similar programs at the Lewis School, the Chapin School and our own school, the Princeton Day School in the near future."
Ziad launched the Redefy website, Facebook page and Twitter account last year. He solicited and shared personal stories from young teenagers across the globe about challenging stereotypes – these are touching stories about the challenges that young people face today including cyber bullying, discrimination and stereotyping due to their race, religion, sexuality, socio-economic status and health issues among many others. In addition to this, the Redefy team continues to share interviews with a diverse group of professionals about their journey to defy stereotypes. These include interviews with Robert Powell, an Executive with NBC who shares his story of coming out of the closet and with the critically acclaimed playwright, Rohina Malik who tells the stories of young American Muslim women facing discrimination in the post 9/11 era. To date, the Redefy multi-media campaign has touched many people across the globe. The Redefy website has had 4200 hits from 37 different countries. Redefy's Facebook page has more than 520 likes from 31 different countries. More information about Redefy and our 2014 international campaign can be found at the Redefy website: http://redefy.org/
Redefy is also participating in the POAC Autism Walk in May. Their goal is to raise $2500 for Autism research. To date, they have raised $940. Learn more here: https://lakewood.poacwalk.org/redefy
Every year, Redefy intends to pick a different underrepresented or misunderstood population and plans to host campaigns to help build bridges of understanding between teenagers from these populations and teenagers from the broader community.
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