Form: Reply Text: (57 lines follow) Maureen will be out of the office from Tuesday, May 9th, 11:00 a.m. to Tuesday, May 16th, 8:45 a.m.
Maureen Pomroy Business Lines Consultant Tel: (709) 772-2735 Fax: (709) 772-2104 "When a group does the impossible in the first hour of its meeting, it is very hard to stop them after that. This is called empowerment." - H. Owen, on Open Space ---------- Original Text ---------- From: "Harrison Owen" <owe...@mindspring.com>, on 5/11/00 9:21 AM: At 05:05 PM 5/10/00 -0700, you wrote: >I facilitated an OS last week and a disabled person who's disability was >not evident came to me after feeling quite upset that a small table had >not been in the centre for people like her who cannot bend even to pick >up a sheet a paper and who does not want to ask others to bring her a >sheet, not wanting her disability to be known. She felt deprived having >not been able to participate and indicated that others with similar >problems had made the same comment. A young person with the same >complaint having a physical problem that limits kneeling or bending >movements to the floor. **************************************** As usual, there is never one right way... and the solution offered certainly seemed to work. Just for the record, the reason I have typically chosen not to use a table is actually two reasons. First, is to keep the space clear. Nothing but the folks -- as it were. But there is also a practical reason. Every time I have used a table, a number of people tried to use it, which meant that they stood around waiting for a place at the table. If it was big enough so that all could fit in, it also blocked people's view of each other -- more so. And the larger the group -- the greater the problem, all of which tended to slow down what in my view should be a pretty snappy process. So my way out is to invite people to help each other. And they do. Funtionally, the job gets done, but maybe even more important, the point gets made that collaboration is the name of the game. All of us have some kind of disability, and each of us will require some kind of help from our fellows along the way. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854 USA phone 301-469-9269 fax 301-983-9314 website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh Open Space Institute websites www.openspaceworld.org