Category 3: Culture. A common response in the data across participants in the study was that they contributed to raising awareness about the children with special needs and were facilitating social inclusion outside of the mainstream school environment. The data revealed that a variety of tools were employed to achieve a cultural shift towards inclusion. For example, the participant (P7) explained how she organized photo exhibitions to portray people with various disabilities who achieved a lot in education. Participant (P1) described how they were using media platforms and banners in the cities in order to bring attention of the general public towards the presence and the issues of people with disabilities in the society: “…we always highlighted the importance of social inclusion and that our children are no different from others. Also, in collaboration with akimat (local administration), we prepared banners about social inclusion and we still have those all-around Astana. The initiative was ours, but the akimat supported us. So, in some cases, we are supported by state authorities more than in others.” Interestingly, many respondents specifically highlighted their projects and programs aimed at inclusion in sports. For example, two NGOs that were represented in this study were formed in order to deliver sports classes for children with disabilities, and both gradually transformed to the unified inclusive programs because other children who did not have a disability wanted to join the programs too. Thus, the study participants (P1 and P2) claimed the following: “We also organized a number of events dedicated not to inclusive education, but rather to social inclusion. These include various sports events.” “…we want our children to do sports, because although academic classes are beneficial, together with sports it works out better. So, we started looking for sports opportunities and there were not any. We decided to join our efforts and started meeting in the parks. At first there were 2, 3, or 4 mothers, but the parks were not adapted to sport activities, because there were bikes and many people. So, we wanted to rent a sport field and to hire a trainer, but eventually what we have now is 10 mothers who organized this NGO and called 90 parents like us. Now, we have 100 children with autism only in our center. On the basis of sports, we came together.” Another parent expressed a similar understanding of sport skills being a necessary component for further educational success. ...
