Member Contributions

Last October, Opening Doors Association opened its first performing arts (music) group for adults with intellectual disabilities in Gozo. The six performers in the group have been meeting up every Saturday at the Gozo Visual and Performing Arts School in Xewkija. The group is supported......

Hi, I’m Angela Bettoni and I’m 19 years old. I have Down’s Syndrome but that does not mean that I think about it much because that it is not all who I am. Last year I started Opening Doors. I’m glad that I am going......

Hi today I would like to say something about friendships. My friends have always been there for me. They help me when I struggle and if I ask them to help me, they will. They are willing to listen to me and help me understand......

Let kids learn that we are not so different after all Recently, for World Disability Day on 3rd December, I took part on a panel about friendships for young people with disabilities organised by Malta’s CRPD (Commission for People with Disabilities), University of Malta and......

Anyone can be a disability advocate so let us all hold hands Hello and Happy New Year!! Welcome back to the ‘No Assumptions, Please’ blog. In today’s post I shall be sharing with you some of my experiences from an advocacy course I recently did......

The End of a Journey.   This week I received my Level 4 Advanced Diploma in Performing Arts. Because of Covid19 the course couldn’t finish in June 2020 but only in October. Unfortunately we couldn’t have a proper ceremony but MCAST is planning to do......

Wear Your Crown for World Down Syndrome Day 21.03.21 Hi all! Today my blog post is dedicated to World Down’s Syndrome Day (WDSD) which is on 21st March. If some of you don’t know, WDSD falls on 21st March like the three copies of Chromosome......

Let’s make inclusion happen!   Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog. I hope you all had a great Easter. In this post I want to talk about the need of having inclusion not only at schools but also for after school activities and I......

Leave no one behind in education In today’s blog post I wanted to share some things I have learnt through a UN brief and video about education for girls with disabilities. I also had the chance to contribute to the video through the Commonwealth Children......

Back home!     Hi everyone, I have just finished a weekend of drama, filming and performances! The last time I did something like this was all the way back in 2019 and I can’t believe that it has been so long. This year as......

Inclusivity in Dance   Hello from Syros, Greece! Last year I was awarded an Erasmus by MCAST to come here to Syros to help at the Akropoditi dance festival (https://www.akropoditi.com/dancefest/en/). Unfortunately it had to be postponed because of Covid19, but luckily this year they were......

Inclusive acting work-camp in Vienna   Hi everyone, welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please’.  In this post I shall be talking about my experience in a three-week acting camp called “Grenzenlos –Let’s Act camp” in August in Vienna which was a European Solidarity Corps project.......

Our performance Is-Siġra tat-Tin   Hi everyone, welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please’. In this post I’m going to be talking about how the performance Is-Siġra tat-Tin (The Fig Tree) came about, and how I found being part of the cast. It all began with ideas......

Mixed-ability Automaniacs dance show   Hello everyone, welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please!’.  This month has been very busy for me as I was in another performance with Opening Doors, Automaniacs, taking part in the ZiguZajg Festival for Children and Young people.  Directed by Douglas......

Introducing ‘Dance with me’     I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope we have a great 2022 ahead.  Welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please’. Today I’ll like to tell you about the start of my new project called ‘Dance with......

The time for inclusion is now!     Hi all, I’m going to tell you about my experience in a mixed-ability dance workshop I attended on 19 February. The workshop, which was one of 2 inclusive dance workshops hosted by Opening Doors that day, was......

Dance with me – for World Down Syndrome Day     Hi everyone, next Monday is World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), which always falls on 21st March, like the 3 copies of chromosome 21 in Down Syndrome. In my January blog I wrote about the......

Mixed ability on stage and on screen in Malta     Hello everyone, welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please!’ Today I’m very proud to share with you the direction that we are going in for inclusion in the performing arts and in entertainment in Malta.......

More mixed-ability performances in Malta,please!     Hello everyone, welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please!’ Today I’m going to be talking about my experiences in Malta of mixed-ability performing arts with Opening Doors. I joined Opening Doors back in 2019 when I was only 18......

My inclusive summer in Performing Arts!     Hello everyone and welcome again to No Assumptions Please! I’m very happy to share with you how I saw mixed-ability performances and training in Malta take centre-stage this summer. Malta International Dance Festival The first thing that......

Being part of a mixed-ability dance performance for the ŻiguŻajg Festival       Hello everyone and welcome to No Assumptions Please! I would like to share with you some great news. This year Opening Doors is taking part in the ŻiguŻajg Arts Festival for......

School outreaches to spread inclusion     Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I hope you are all having a nice 2023 so far. Today I’m going to talk about some school outreaches that I did in the past 2 months. At the......

My Erasmus experience in Hydra, Greece      Hello everyone and welcome back to ‘No Assumptions Please!’. I am going to be sharing with you my Erasmus experience. I received an Erasmus through MCAST this year, my third individual Erasmus! My parents helped me to......