Niki:
My experience of the Reset project was very intense, in terms of both education and being part of a vibrant community.
What I got out of the project for myself
From the perspective of a social justice advocate participating in the Reset project, I really enjoyed being surrounded by people who worked on social change on a daily basis. And clearly, all of us were committed to making safety and inclusion the norm rather than an exception. I felt privileged to go through the programme with them and hear about their experiences.
At the same time, I enjoyed the vibe of these amazing people. The participants were eager to spend time together, share their stories and connect – even though we spent only a week together, I feel like I have made meaningful connections with people from around the whole Europe.
Another thing that I got out of the Reset project for myself was the opportunity of taking meaningful action. While I do have my reservations about the impact of writing guides, it was clear to me that the guide that would be produced during the workshop and disseminated, was an important step – a loud reminder of a widespread accessibility problem and an informative support for solving it. At that time I was generally angry that many spaces are planned with only one kind of participant in mind – a privileged person with the most common characteristics. Tackling this problem within learning spaces was an important emotional outlet for me.
What I learnt
Probably my most important realization resulting from the project was that the issue of providing accessible and comfortable spaces couldn’t be solved purely with high awareness or technicalities. Each person can have basic needs that deviate from the most predictable ones or have their own ways of addressing them. This means that it is always indispensable to keep a humble and flexible attitude, a sort of readiness to notice, learn and tune to others’ unique standpoints. At the same time, it is not an excuse for not making use of the helpful knowledge about the common needs of specific minorities. I also appreciate learning a lot about the relationship between interconnected concepts such as accessibility, safety, diversity, intersectionality and inclusion.
During the planned activities I learnt a great deal about the practicalities of organizing a learning project, in particular within the Erasmus programme, which opened possibilities for me in the future that I hadn’t thought of before.
Wero:
The first thing that I’d like to share are the learnings that I got from the project:
No space can be 100% safe.
Spaces can only be safer. There’s never a guarantee that we will be able to accommodate all the needs present in such a space…. Neither will we be able to manage all emergencies that can occur at any time…
Still, we can try and do some work beforehand to know how to deal with any situations that are likely to happen & communicate with our colleagues and target groups to prepare for all that ‘could go wrong’ based on the context that we work in. That being said, we may not be entirely prepared but we may come up with frameworks & protocols that can come in handy as needed. What is also great about it is that this kind of practice is not only limited to the world of Erasmus+ but any place (workplace, school, home, etc).
Inclusion* is a tricky term.
I liked it before. Now I’m not such a big fan of it. During the training, we discussed what it means for a space to be truly ‘inclusive’. What I’ve gotten out of all of these talks is that it’s just another word that presumes an unequal power dynamic between two ‘entities’… Of course, when using this word, we don’t want to hurt anyone but on the contrary. We may say for example that ‘we’re an inclusive* workspace’. Still, the spaces that are ‘inclusive*’ ‘ and that introduce practices aiming to be this way, oftenly can be initiated by those belonging to more privileged groups and so those that decide to permit others to have the same opportunities as they do… (being more or less aware of the entire phenomena)
Apart from the theoretical and practical knowledge that I got from the training, I also want to mention some things that touched me on a more personal level… Or rather all the moments that I felt grateful for…
I feel blessed for:
- all the evenings spent (mostly) in the kitchen just existing & getting to know each other more,
- all the jamming sessions where we created magic with our voices and instruments.
I will highlight though that what I feel most grateful for is the space that we allowed to flourish between all of us…
A space where I felt safe(r) to create & share & listen. This in turn allowed me to put my defenses down a bit more. I just felt like I could be myself openly & unapologetically for which I’ll be forever thankful… That being said, thank you everyone for making this experience so impactful. It left such a big mark on me and with so many things to reflect on.
