Hello everybody,
I'm glad to telll you about the OST with handicapped people I've recently done
with a collegue Marianne Gerber. A successful experience !
On Saturday, November 11th 2006, 24 persons from the French and the German
speaking part of Switzerland representing 17 different handicaps met in an OST
meeting in Bern from am 09.30 to pm. 05.00. Among them there were one deaf
person, 3 visual handicaped, and 5 persons with heavy handicaps in an electric
wheelchair. The others had other handicaps, illness or brain injuries.
Some of the 24 active participants were assisted by 8 persons : translation
into sign language for the deaf person, accompanying visual handicapped
persons, additional help for handwriting, eating and drinking during brakes for
lunch and coffee, going to toilet, and so on. We were two facilitators,
Catherine French speaking and Marianne German speaking.
The Meeting design was the following:
09.30 am Welcome coffee
10.00 am Introduction in 2 languages, agenda and marketplace
11.45 am 1st workshop session until 01.00 pm
Coffee available between 11.15 and 11.45
02.30 pm 2nd workshop session until 03.45 pm
Lunch buffet from 12.30 - 02.30 pm
04.00 pm Closing circle
05.00 pm End
The design may appear to be relatively short. We started only at 10.00 am
because participants were coming from different part of Switzerland. We had
only two sessions because they get easily tired and for some of them, the way
back home was long.
After a French- and German introduction, the collection of subjects started.
The market place was very nice, not that much chaotic. There was a lot of
respect and patience among the participants.
11 subjects were proposed and 9 workshops took place.
The theme was:
Do we want a quota for handicapped people on the labour market?
- Is it the instrument we wish to have?
- Shall the Organization AGILE (the sponsor of the OST-meeting) commit
itself for the theme on the political field?
Amazingly a women, who had to leave earlier, managed to shorten the break lunch
and then motivated the group to finish earlier. The 2nd workshop session
started at 02.00 pm. The closing circle at 03.15 pm. The meeting was over at
03.45 pm
In the closing circle people told that the main preoccupations of the
participants, regarding the theme, were relatively the same. It seems that 4
main preoccupations were discussed in the groups.
The whole OST meeting went on very smoothly. However the preparation was much
more difficult, as we didn't know how many people would come and what their
handicap would be. On the meeting day, there were finally no blind
participants. This was one of our big worry. (How would they react to the
absence of table, etc.?) The registered person with hardness of hearing did not
come. For hard of hearing participants we would have needed a magnetic loop as
assistance materiel. However the participant with visual handicap said that the
assistance was very good. That's certainly the main point to guarantee the
success of such an event. One of our big sorrow was also the room, which was
already booked, when the sponsor decided to organize an OST. This one was not
really adequate. However, as not all expected participants were present, things
worked out pretty well. (who ever comes is the right person !)
Now we look forward to the debrief meeting on November 20, 2006. The follow up
of this OST meeting will be very important for the sponsor, who will have to
decide, how to go on with the Theme as it is discussed on the political stage,
often without listening the affected people.
Some of the statements in the closing circle:
"the introduction was a bit long"
"yes, it may have been long, but it helped me to overcome my scruple"
"we could all discuss on a same level, the handicaps were no issues - the
assistance was extraordinary well done"
"the fact that every body participated is remarkable"
For us, as facilitators, this OST meeting is a confirmation, that as soon as
you have the right assistance (we mean human and technical assistance)
handicaps do not bother or hinder the work to do. On our meeting, there were
human beings at work, not handicapped people. Catherine made this same
conclusion in a program, in which she and her colleagues adapted the instrument
"Balance of Competence in groups".
So what seemed impossible, appears to be possible with the adequate assistance.
We hope that the participants will talk about OST in their associations in
order to work with more efficiency. The members of their associations have one
same handicap.
It remains true, that it will still be easier to organize an OST meeting when
we have to organize assistance for only one handicap and not many different
ones.
Catherine Corbaz and Marianne Gerber
Bern, November 12, 2006
*
*
==========================================================
osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
