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Description
Our experience and observations show that blind and visually impaired individuals are particularly invisible in social and political life. Research conducted by Jolanta Kramarz of the SWPS University indicates that there is a deeply rooted stereotype of a blind person as incompetent. Sometimes blind people start perceiving themselves this way – they do not notice their own skills, which sometimes results from overprotective upbringing, and sometimes from insufficient representation of visually impaired people in public life.We will address the problem by supporting 16 blind/visually impaired people from all over Poland who are interested in public matters. We will run training on public administration for them – teaching them how the law and offices work, where to find useful regulations, how to read legal acts and budget bills. We will run workshops raising their skills in making speeches, initiating and running debates, solving conflicts and coping with stress. Each person will be supported by experts in running a small project in their hometown, for instance, applying in writing to local authorities for a free verification of architectural accessibility of an office or requesting to participate in a selected committee of the local council. In this project we will put emphasis on fighting stereotypes on blind and visually impaired people. We will organise two press conferences to promote our activities.
Summary of project results
In our experience and observation, blind and visually impaired people have been extremely invisible in political and social life. Research by Jolanta Kramarz of SWPS University shows that there is a strong pattern of a blind person as an incompetent person. Sometimes even blind people themselves begin to think of themselves this way - it is difficult for them to see their own abilities, sometimes through overprotective upbringing and sometimes through a scarcity of examples of visually impaired people being active in public.
We responded to this problem by supporting 16 blind/visually impaired people from all over Poland who were interested in public affairs. We provided them with training on how public administration works - how laws and offices work, where to find useful regulations, and how to read laws and budget resolutions. We conducted workshops to improve competences related to speaking, initiating and conducting debates, conflict resolution and dealing with stress. Each person, under the guidance of our experts, carried out a small project in his or her locality concerning, for example, making a written request to the local government, checking the architectural accessibility of an office for free or attending a meeting of a selected committee of the municipal council. In this project, we emphasised countering stereotypes about blind/visually impaired people. To promote our activities, we organised a press conference.
The evaluation of the project shows that, thanks to the trainings, their participants have increased their knowledge of administrative law, assertiveness and public speaking. We learnt about a positive change among public administrations, who became convinced of the existence of serious obstacles in cities for visually impaired people.