Flipping wheel chairs and blinding stairs

Day 1: Self-Awareness

When trying to create offers for people with disabilities, it can be difficult to anticipate how those offers need to be designed, which aspects have to be considered and what possible barriers might be there. After all, it is difficult to know how a person in a wheelchair or a blind person experiences a hiking trip.

Thus, our experts from BSVÖ and ÖZIV gave us the chance to spend the first day experiencing these situations as much as possible ourselves. Armed with wheelchairs, a tremor simulator, blindfolds, white canes and special glasses simulating different visual impairments, we got to experience first-hand which possible challenges people with disabilities might face. First and foremost, all participants agreed that it increased the respect they have for people navigating daily life with disabilities. “There are so many aspects you just don’t think about – I never realised how difficult it is to navigate bark mulch while sitting in a wheel chair for example. It’s really exhausting!”, said one of the participants. Heavy doors can pose a problem as well:

Kick-off session in Vienna

Working together with cherished people from our member organisations, being able to spend most of the day outside in the Danube-Auen National Park and doing so in bright sunlight – sometimes working really is not that much of a challenge.