Encouraging disabled people through photography

EyeContactNow

Disabled people, naturally, face problems adjusting in the society. Most of the times, they live an isolated life if they are unable to perform daily-life functions. An non-profit international social enterprise EyeContactNow, established in Estonia, supports and encourages disabled people to share their stories and life through visual media.

EyeContactNow promotes social integration and entrepreneurship of the disabled people with the visual culture and cross-media solutions. Through photography and storytelling, disabled people are encouraged to create their own narratives revolving around their lives, thus using the media to initiate an interaction between the person and his/her environment.

Not restricted to only disabled people, EyeContactNow invites photographers from all over the world to donate their photographs, the funds generated by which are helped to support the disabled.

EyeContactNow was initiated by Zsolt Bugarszki, PhD lecturer of social policy at Institute of Social Work, and a result of co-operation between Tallinn University (Estonia), Helpific (an online platform to help connect the disabled to volunteers who want to help; Estonia) and CARe Europe Foundation (an international organization in the field of mental health and disability care; The Netherlands).

A EyeContactNow Tumblr blog has been created to publish the photographs and simply, introduce new members who bring different perspectives of life and beauty.

For more details about the project and how to submit photos, click here.