Ferrara - 17 – 24 July 2011
The project “Technology for Social Inclusion”, subsidized by the EU Commission (Youth in Action), took place in Ferrara, at “Città del Ragazzo” (formal activities)1 and at Hostello della Gioventù (informal activities) 2.
The project “Technology and inclusion” was conceived, designed and put into action on the basis of 20 years’ positive experience carried on by some of the partner organizations, and drew benefit from the competency of the project developers (parents of visually handicapped children, blind researcher, staff of blind association, university teachers from all partner organisations).
Its main goal was to offer a group of 66 young from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, The Netherland, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Italy; with the main goal to promoting social inclusion of young people with visual disabilities, through the achievement / improvement of some knowledges, abilities and competences in view of their future studies / occupation / cultural and social activities among peers and in their local community.
Considering the fact that visual impairment has some important consequences on all spheres of the person, “technology and inclusion” dealt with following domains:
IT with regard to specific HW/SW for visually impaired persons;
Communications with special regard to body language and non verbal communication;
- Orientation & mobility;
- Independt life skills;
- Self esteem and self image.
The participants draw benefit both from formal and from informal training methodology, and all efforts have been done in order to avoid strict and burocratical separation between these two methodologies.
Direct and active involvment of participants has been achieved through a very long preparation phase (starting from May 2011 until the beginning of the activities, July 2011). Rules and organization of activities have been deeply discussed via distant communication methods, so that all actors, that is young visually impaired students, their teachers / trainers, technical staff and local volunteers started the core activities fully informed about plans, rules, logistic data, timetables, available options. All this through a multimedial brochure (printed, Braille, digital format), that was previously e-mailed and delivered on the first day.
Each day all VI participants could choose between 10 available options in the domain of formal activities, and one of the 5 available options in the leisure time activities.
Following opportunities have been planned and carried out regularly:
- Get to know students from other countries during a fascinating week in an accessible environment.
- Learn about modern information technology, accessibility and specific equipment for visually impaired people.
- Learn about studying / travelling / volunteering opportunities throughout Europe
- Experience international and intercultural exchange
- Have fun (not only in challenging and fun-stuffed leisure time activities)
The workshops have been focused on hands on situations and applications – on how to manage real life situations related to IT, communication, mobility practical activities. Special attention has been devoted to the development of self image and to improve European citizenship, as well as to encourage young visually impaired participants to draw positive aspects even in a difficult condition, such as visual impairment.
Participants could choose from a rich variety of workshops held by experts from all over the world. Those Workshops are partly based on outcomes of previous positive experiences, partly from “the cutting edge” of research and practice. We had 3-hours and 6-hours workshops, according to contents, available resources, difficulties. The whole programme lasted 5 days, and one whole day was devoted to an excursion based on informal activities, related with knowledge of the territory and practise of communication and mobility skills. In our case, the leisure activities gave participants the unique opportunity to have fum discovering Ferrara trhought free barrier paths organized thanks to support of local volunteers.
All participants expressed positive judgments about their experience, and gave very instructive inputs for future ameliorations.
Download DVD containing multimedial documentation can be freely download from