Inclusion Session​

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The main objectives of this session were to continue exploring the concept of Social Innovation - specifically the importance of Empathy, Inclusion, and Empowerment - to understand the need to create inclusive projects and measures, and to develop and create a Prototype¹ (another phase in the project cycle).

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The first activity the participants did was “Back to Back.” Initially, the young people formed pairs and sat on the floor with their backs to each other. One person in each pair received a blank sheet of paper, while the other received an image of a simple object. The person who received the image had to describe it verbally without ever mentioning what the image was (e.g., if it were a house, they would have to say things like “draw a square,” “draw a triangle on top of the square,” “draw a rectangle extending from the triangle,” …), while the other person drew according to the instructions given. Each pair had time to develop communication strategies beforehand (before seeing the image and after the exercise was explained) in order to complete the task as effectively as possible. At the end, each pair compared the original image with the one they created to see how closely they matched, and they reflected on the challenges they faced throughout the activity.

 

The goal of this activity—in addition to creating sensory constraints, thereby placing the young people in a situation that many of the most marginalized groups face in their daily lives—was to encourage communication among them, a challenge that was occasionally mentioned throughout the sessions, especially when interacting with people with whom they were less familiar.

 

This activity served as a bridge to reintroduce the concept of Social Innovation—specifically, the importance of taking various factors into account—and to lead into the next exercise, which aimed to further explore issues of empathy, inclusion, and empowerment.

 

After this, the class was divided into 4 or 5 groups to carry out the activity “Under My Umbrella.” Each group was assigned a specific target group:

• Children;

• Elderly people;

• Blind people;

• People in wheelchairs;

• People with mobility issues (limitations in the use of their hands, balance problems);

• People carrying items.

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They were asked to brainstorm possible problems the target group might face when using a traditional umbrella, as well as any additional needs they might have. After this step, they had to brainstorm ideas for new types of umbrellas or mechanisms that would serve the same purposes and meet the needs of their target group. An important point that was emphasized was that, in this exercise, there were no limits to the imagination—they could explore their full creativity!

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Once all the ideas had been gathered and developed, each group had to choose one and create a physical prototype that could represent their idea in some way (another phase of the project cycle). In the end, they had to prepare a mini-pitch about it, in order to present their idea and try to “sell” it to the rest of the class!​

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After the presentations ended, the class engaged in a reflection:

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• What do you think was the goal of this activity?

• What was it like to put yourselves in the shoes of people with challenges different from your own?

• Do you feel that various groups are still overlooked when it comes to accessibility to different things and everyday needs?

• How do you think this topic will be relevant when you have to develop your final project?

 

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¹ This is the phase of creating the solution in a more physical form (model, presentation, mapping), to enable future testing.