In January, the IBF Foundation held its second workshop with the aim of generating practical knowledge on the theme of ‘Making a place and power in the majority’ to enable visually impaired people to play a proactive role in the work environment. Three participants in their 20s to 50s attended a total of five days. Throughout the workshops, the participants learnt practical methods and concrete actions to eliminate some of the obstacles caused by visual impairment.
Overview of Workshop
Day 1 (8 Jan.) The participants received a lecture on how to ‘create a place in the majority and demonstrate their power’ from Mr. Ryo Adachi, President of the NPO Common Beat, which organises and manages citizen participation musicals. The participants learnt about self-disclosure and communication techniques practised in places where people with disabilities also participate.
Day 2 (15 Jan.) All participants shared what they find ‘hard to do’ at work, regardless of whether those difficulties are a result of their visual impairment or not.
Day 3 (22 Jan.) The participants considered what solutions could be found to the issues raised in Day 2. They also incorporated a SWOT analysis of visually impaired people working in the majority and considered specific approaches.
Day 4 (25 Jan.) The participants spent four hours on Saturday afternoon sharing the results of the SWOT analysis and forming a common understanding. They then discussed and examined what actions could be taken as practical knowledge.
Day 5 (29 Jan.) On the final day, the participants shared and discussed innovations and improvements in the results obtained on the fourth day. The final focus was on the theme, and specific practical knowledge (innovations) that can be used by visually impaired people were summarised.
Operational considerations
As the workshop was designed for visually impaired people, special operational considerations were implemented:
– Accompanying support from the station to the venue.
– Preparation of email text suitable for text-to-voice reading.
– Advance distribution of materials (in Word file format).
– Participation of visually impaired staff in the operation (planning and coordination work, workshop facilitation work).
Initiative and future prospects
Each visually impaired person has unique practical knowledge, but access to this information is not easy and there is a lack of platforms for sharing. This workshop provided a platform for participants to come together in person and share their knowledge through dialogue to further improve its quality.
Building on the experience of the first workshop, which was held from July to August last year, this time the emphasis was on working carefully from the point of enumerating practical knowledge and deepening the discussion. IBF Foundation staff changed the format to a more in-depth discussion, focusing on the theme of ‘creating a place and power within the majority’. As this was our first project of its kind, the initiative started last year with a lot of hand-holding and the workshop has improved with each session.
The IBF Foundation, whose mission is ‘We bring together diverse people and knowledge by mobilising the power of blind football to create answers for challenges surrounding visual impairment’, will continue to work to connect visually impaired people and solve the issues.
Participant’s voice – testimonies
‘The change I felt (as a result of attending the course) was an increased willingness to engage with colleagues around me. Already, I am trying to put my realisation into practice and get moving.’
‘I have a renewed sense of the importance of communicating from my own initiative, and my self-understanding has deepened. I have more options as a way of making people around me aware of my existence. Although there were parts that were off-topic, it was good that we were able to share our thoughts from different perspectives.’
