Fun at full speed!

This year, I once again conducted the laboratory on sensory impairment for middle school students during the Specialization Course for support activities directed by Prof. Laura Menichetti at the University of Florence.

In this laboratory, beyond a brief description of the special characteristics of people with sensory impairment, we activated a laboratory to build inclusive games. By means of methods for design and practical building, up to the crafting of a box game, we created situations and acquired essential knowledge to carefully and successfully teach children.

The idea of focusing on games was perfect, because it involved not only the creation of objects, dashboards, toys, but also led us to think about dynamics of games that can be played simultaneously by people with visual impairment and by people with normal vision, achieving the goal of Universal Design and Inclusion.

The students of the Cavazza Institute’s “Operator Course” had the opportunity to try, test, and have fun with these prototypes.

The European Union wants to create opportunities for young people, and therefore has requested the organization of 4 events based on the European Youth Event (E.Y.E.) model held in Strasbourg every two years. Of these 4 Local E.Y.E.s, the only one in Italy will be held in Forlì in the third weekend of May 2024.

Punto Europa in Forlì, an interdepartmental center of the University of Bologna, won the competition for the event’s overall management and content, with maximum attention to the richness that the special characteristics of some may have in the building of knowledge and general well-being.

With the Director of the Cavazza Institute’s “Operator Course,” we decided to present our application (and were chosen!) to manage the two activity laboratories in the Local E.Y.E. course. We will set up “The rhythms of the South without light” with the goal of making music together, discovering and learning about the typical musical instruments of Southern Italy, to create relations among people even in the absence of light.

And, of course, we’ll “Play in the dark!,” using play as the best way to begin a friendship. The laboratory will be conducted in the dark to stimulate unfamiliar knowledge and sensations and to build a dialog among people. We believe it is important for young people to talk to one another so that they may understand aspects of the daily life of people who live without visual information. The objective is to generate ideas and suggestions on how an urban environment or a learning environment may promote and facilitate life for everyone.

I’m sure it will be great fun: come to the Local E.Y.E. in Forlì!

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