How special are your needs? Can we help? STEAM for an inclusive Europe.
Our project started from the observation that in this fast evolving 21st century certain people are at risk of being left behind. And we especially thought of people with special needs and elderly people who might experience mobility problems, lack of social interaction and inability to fully participate in everything our quickly evolving society has to offer. We focussed on the level to which our society is accessible in all its forms, not just in how far city planning takes these needs into account, but also in how far people’s daily life might be affected by their special needs. Is your local grocery shop accessible for your wheelchair and can you easily get into a pub, pay your bill at the bar and go to the toilet? Can you easily use public transport? Do you get equal leisure time opportunities if you are visually or hearing impaired? Is your visit to a museum as fulfilling as it is to a person without your needs? Can you fully enjoy a tourist walk through the historical and cultural heritage of a town or city? Do you get easy access to activities organised by leisure time organisations, like sports clubs or theatres?
With our project we wanted to make a difference on different levels.
On one hand we set up the project activities in such a way that we seriously enhanced awareness in all project’s participants and participating schools and families. Of the utmost importance in reaching this goal was the composition of the team of 8 schools that also included a school for visually impaired students, a school for hearing impaired students and a school with an inclusive special needs department. Our joint activities in mixed groups proved to be a magnificent awareness tool.
Also with our dissemination events and through close cooperation with our towns/cities and target group organisations we equally enhanced awareness in people we brought into contact with our project and its results in all countries.
On the other hand the project tried to use its STE(A)M skills to develop technological solutions for certain hindrances. We put these skills to work in favour of a society that wants to keep everyone on board. In order to reach this goal the project required and stimulated critical thinking and creativity in students and teachers alike, linking science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. And this lead to technological “quick wins” or full scale technological solutions that try to soften daily needs experienced by wheelchair users or people who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, weakened by old age or even suffer from dementia. Apart from the above we hoped that our working method would prove to be an inspiring example of STEAM teaching didactics.
May we introduce you to our visually and hearing impaired participants?
This is a project of
- Talent.is Campus Engineering, Veurne, Belgium
- 1 Geniko Lykeio Alexandroupolis, Alexandroupoli, Greece
- Istituto Istruzione Superiore Natta/Deambrosis, Sestri Levante, Italy
- Agrupamento de Escolas Eugénio de Andrade, Porto, Portugal
- Agrupamento de Escolas Rodrigues de Freitas, Porto, Portugal
- Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Srednja gradbena, geodetska in okoljevarstvena sola, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Jämtlands Gymnasium Wargentin, Ostersünd, Sweden
Should you be interested in learning more about our project, then just contact these coordinators.
- Lut Hoornaert: lut.hoornaert@scarlet.be
Filip Robyn: filiprobyn@msn.com
Although we wanted to find out in how far our technological skills could help people with special needs in their daily life, two goals stood out.
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First of all we developed a cultural and historic walk through each of our town centres that is adapted to wheelchair users or people who are visually or hearing impaired. The walks are available on the walking app “Route You” and in Belgium also on “Erfgoed Vlaanderen”.They come with 3D prints of interesting buildings or works of art along the route that allow visually impaired to literally get in touch with the town’s cultural heritage. At some locations there are also videos with subtitles and sign language to offer hearing impaired a better experience.
So if you travel to Porto (Portugal), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Sestri Levante (Italy), Alexandroupoli (Greece), Östersund (Sweden) or Veurne (Belgium) feel free to try out our disability friendly walks. And of course we would be happy if you liked our walk in Route You. -
Secondly we developed an online assessment tool that allows the public, any organisation or even the towns themselves to assess the disability friendliness of publicly accessible buildings in their towns.
If you want to try it out, simply click the image below. Then the ‘Help’ button in the upper right hand corner can help you on your way to use our tool and collect your own data.
How disability friendly is your city, street, …? Assessment Tool
Throughout the project we tried to apply our skills to make the life of people with disabilities a little more comfortable, more interesting or simply more fun. And of course, we started with listening to them to find out about their own needs. And they helped us understand. Under the section “Problems for people with disabilities” you can find a couple of examples.
Some of their needs were “out of our league” and couldn’t be “solved” by secondary school students. However, step by step we managed to come up with a number of “quick wins” with which we really succeeded in having an impact by opening up new opportunities for people with special needs.
Computer Games
In this section you will find memory (supporting) games (for elderly people or even people suffering from dementia), a matching game and sign language learning game in all the project’s sign language.
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Memory Game
The first game we made was a memory game. It was created to help people with dementia.
You can put your own pictures into the game and decide the difficulty level. The purpose is not to play the game as quickly as possible, but to tell a story. -
Match Names
For the same purpose we created the game ‘Match names’. It was also created to strengthen the memory of the names of loved ones.
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Sign Language
During our project we noticed that every country has its own sign language. So we created a game to learn the sign languages of the different countries.
Board Games
“Board games” brings you a variety of 3-D printed board games that make it possible for visually impaired people to join in board games that were previously “inaccessible” for them. The STL files are freely available in this section.
Traffic lights
Domino
Some games with one board
Tic Tac Toe
Sling puck
Our first goal was to create our own version of the board game “Traffic lights”, so that blind people could also enjoy the game.
Download STL files for traffic lightsThe domino game was created to learn a little bit about braille. It also lets us experience how to feel braille.
Download STL files for DominoOnce we had found our way in board games, we created a board that allows you to play 5 games with the same board and pieces. This game was made for blind people but it can also be useful for people with upper limb mobility impairments.
Download STL files for Some games with one bord
We wanted blind students to make their own game. The technical teachers of Belgium worked together with the teachers of the school of Rodrigues to find out what was possible.
The teachers of Rodrigues translated the instructions into braille. Together with the technical teachers of Belgium students of Rodrigues made their own game.
We also wanted deaf students to make their own game. The technical teachers of Belgium worked together with the teachers of the school of Andrade to find out what was possible.
The Belgian teachers made a construction video and made the game with the students of Andrade.
Other quick wins
“Other quick wins” contains students’ research on several technological challenges, like a blind guidance tools with sensor to avoid overhanging objects. There is also the sensory VR glasses that tries to let the elderly see and smell the outdoors. And there is an attempt to let hearing impaired people better enjoy music. And a student developed a round house to avoid problems caused by corners.
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Age friendliness
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Blind guidance tools
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Music for everyone
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Microscopic Operas and the theorem of Pythagoras for hearing impared people.
Sensory Paintings
“Sensory paintings” demonstrates a technique to let visually impaired people better enjoy paintings by making them “touchable”.
Problems for people with disabilities
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Students of Agrupamento de Escolas Rodrigues de Freitas present some of their difficulties in life.
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Students of Agrupa mento de Escolas Eugénio de Andrade present some of their difficulties in life.
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Students of Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música do Porto present some problems for people with disabilities.
In our project, and for various reasons, we needed to run questionnaires. Click the underneath headings to meet the questions and results.
1. Questionnaire answered by people with disablities
At various phases of our project, we used questionnaires. At the start of our project, we launched this questionnaire to have a better idea of the problems people with special needs are facing. The results were processed by the Swedish department of social studies.
2. Awareness questionnaire answered by participants
Throughout the project and at every meeting from the Belgian student-teacher (LTT) meeting onwards we tried to get an idea of the awareness gain reached in participants by all project week activities.
Belgium
- Awareness questionnaire Belgium answers
- Awareness questionnaire Belgium answers school for blind and deaf
- Awareness questionnaire Belgium school for blind and deaf
- Awareness questionnaire Belgium
Greece
- Awareness questionnaire Greece
- Awareness questionnaire Greece school for blind and deaf
- Awareness questionnaire Greece answers
- awareness questionnaire Greece answers school for blind and deaf
Italy
- Awareness questionnaire Italy
- Awareness questionnaire Italy answers
- Awareness questionnaire Italy school for blind and deaf
- Awareness questionnaire Italy answers school for blind and deaf
Portugal
Slovenia
3. Questionnaire answered by leisure time organisations
Another questionnaire was run in a multitude of leisure time organisations in our areas, trying to find out in how far they “care for” people with special needs and/or want to put in an extra effort to improve their approach in this field.
In our project we tried to raise our students’ awareness about the difficulties people with special needs face in their daily life. One of the problems is to participate in leisure time activities like sports. However there are possibilities and there are competitions and even Paralympic games. That’s why – as an awareness tool – we had our students get acquainted with some Paralympic sports and adapted these sports to the standard school sports hall. In order to disseminate these results we have developed Paralympic Sports Containers that can be borrowed by other schools to give their students a similar experience. They contain the necessary equipment and simplified manual to play the sport and come with some videos showing how the sports are played in reality.
GOALBALL
CATEGORIZATION:
HISTORY:
The sport dates back to 1946 when it was created by Austrian Hanz Lorenzen and German Sett Reindle as a way to rehabilitate WWII veterans who had lost their vision. It is now played by over 120 countries throughout the world and is one of the Paralympic sports that have no Olympic equivalent.
BASIC RULES:
The purpose of the game is for one player on offense to roll the ball across the opponent’s goal line while the other team attempts to prevent this from happening by diving on the ground and blocking the oncoming throw. The team (maximum 3 players on court) must throw the ball across the centerline of the court within 10 seconds of the team’s first defensive contact with the ball. In a regulation 24-minute match, each team typically throws between 90-100 times.
Common penalties in goalball are high ball, long ball, 10-second penalty, eyeshade penalty, illegal coaching, and team noise penalty. When a penalty is committed, the defending team must defend the shot with only one defender on the court. All athletes must be legally blind and officially classified. All athletes must wear eyeshadow so that no light is visible as this maintains an equal playing field for all. Because goalball is an auditory sport, spectators must remain silent while the ball is in play.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
One goalball (special ball with bells inside), eyeshades which completely block all vision, elbow pads, and knee pads. Goalball courts are 18 m long by 9 m wide. The court is divided every 3 m along its length to make six areas. All lines will be marked with tape, and the tape will have string underneath to assist with player orientation. The goals extend across each end of the court, 9 m across and 1.3 m high.
ADJUSTED SCHOOL RULES AND EQUIPMENT:
One or more players without eyeshadow can assist players of his team with oral instructions and with physical guidance so the tape is not needed. Players can only make 3 steps forward before rolling the ball. Goals are made from sport cones. Best option for eyeshade is swimming glasses taped with coloured tape.
Paralympic Sport A-Z: Goalball
SITTING VOLLEYBALL
CATEGORIZATION:
HISTORY:
First appeared on the Paralympic program at the 1980 Games in Arnhem, Netherlands. Standing volleyball made it’s first appearance in the 1976 Paralympic Games In Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Paralympic volleyball is divided into two major disciplines: sitting and standing. For the Athens Games in 2004, however, only sitting volleyball was on the Paralympic program. Athens also introduced the first Paralympic competition for women's sitting volleyball.
BASIC RULES:
Paralympic volleyball follows the same rules as its able-bodied counterpart with a few modifications to accommodate the various disabilities. The net is 100 cm high, and the court is 10 x 6 meters with a two-meter attack line. The position of each player is determined and controlled by the position of their bottoms. A player’s limb may cross the service, attack, and center lines, provided the athlete does not interfere with an opposing player.
A player’s “bottom” is defined as the upper part of the body, from the shoulder to one’s buttocks. The player is not allowed to lift his/her bottom from the court when executing a contact with the ball. Defensively, if a player remains low and follows through their playing action to have their upper torso contact the ground after playing the ball, then a brief loss of contact by a player’s bottom is generally permitted. Blocking or attacking the serve is legal.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
Volleyball court, net and a ball.
ADJUSTED SCHOOL RULES AND EQUIPMENT:
The game with regular rules is recommended for students over 15 years old and with good volleyball knowledge. In case of lower volleyball knowledge the game can begin without serve and the team can catch the ball when it crosses the net.
Paralympic Sport A-Z: Sitting volleyball
BLIND FOOTBALL
CATEGORIZATION:
HISTORY:
The sport has been governed by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) since 1996 and it is played with modified FIFA rules. Blind football debuted at the Paralympic Games for the first time at the Athens 2004 Paralympics and has been contested at every Games since.
BASIC RULES:
Teams are made up of four outfield players and one goalkeeper. Outfield players are visually impaired which means they are completely blind, have very low visual acuity, and/or no light perception, whilst the goalkeeper must be sighted or partially sighted. All outfield players must wear eyeshades. Teams can also have off-field guides to assist them. The ball makes a noise due to a sound system located inside that helps players orient themselves. Before attempting to tackle, players must shout the word ‘voy’ so that the person they are attempting to tackle is aware. This is designed to prevent injuries wherever possible. Players committing five fouls during one game are disqualified from the game. Spectators must remain silent while watching the game until a goal is scored.
It is played on a rectangular field that measures 40m long and 20m wide. The whole length of the pitch is covered by kickboards to prevent the ball from going out of play. The goals are 3.66m wide and 2.14m high. The duration of the match is 40 minutes, divided into two 20-minute halves plus 10 minutes for half-time. Each team can request a one-minute timeout during each half. During the last two minutes of both halves, and in case of extra time, the timekeeper must stop the clock for a free-kick, kick-in, goal kick, and corner kick.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
Indoor football court, ball with bells, eyeshades which completely block all vision..
ADJUSTED SCHOOL RULES AND EQUIPMENT:
In case of lower football knowledge goals can be made from sport cones that are further apart (6 - 9 m). A variation is also that one player can play without eyeshade but he has only one touch and cannot score the goal. Best option for eyeshade is swimming glasses taped with coloured tape.
Paralympic Sport A-Z: Football 5-a-side
BOCCIA
CATEGORIZATION:
HISTORY:
Boccia was practised for many years as a leisure activity before being introduced at the New York 1984 Paralympics as a competitive sport and it has no counterpart in the Olympic program.
BASIC RULES:
One side has six red balls and the other six blue balls. The aim is to get your balls closer to the white target ball, the 'jack', than your opponent. To start an end, one side will throw the jack and will then throw their first ball trying to get it as close as possible. The other side then attempts to throw their ball closer. After that, the side whose ball is not closest to the jack throws the next ball. Once all balls have been played, points are awarded. The side that is closest to the jack receives a point for every ball they have nearer than their opponent’s closest ball.
A match consists of a set number of ends, four in individual and pairs events and six in the team game. Once all ends have been played the side with the highest score is the winner.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
Smooth surface indoor, two wheelchairs, boccia set (leather balls).
ADJUSTED SCHOOL RULES AND EQUIPMENT:
Two chairs, boccia set. For more students to play at once with multiple sets you can use cheaper rubber boccia sets that are also usable for outdoor.
Paralympic Sport A-Z: Boccia
SITTING TABLE TENNIS
CATEGORIZATION:
HISTORY:
It has been a part of the Paralympic program since the inaugural Games in 1960.
BASIC RULES:
Matches consist of five sets of 11 points each and are played in a best-of-five format. Players serve two serves each, alternating. A player does not have to win specifically off their own serve in order to win a point. If a game ties at 10-10, a player must win by two points. In this situation, players serve one serve each, alternating.
In competition, games are played best of five (first to win three games) or best of seven (first to win four games). Social games can also be played best of three (first to win two games).
Serving: an athlete must throw the ball up straight, from a flat palm, at least six inches (16cm). The toss and service contact must be behind the table surface (not over). An athlete cannot hide the ball from the ball toss to contact, with any part of your body. If the ball hits the net during service, it is a let, the point is replayed. There is no limit or point deductions for let serves
A player may touch the table with the racket hand to restore his or her balance only after a shot has been played, and if the table does not move
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
Standard table tennis equipment: table tennis racket, ball, a table and a table tennis net. Sport specific equipment: competition wheelchairs and tables that shall allow access to wheelchairs without obstructing the player's legs and shall allow access to two wheelchairs for doubles.
ADJUSTED SCHOOL RULES AND EQUIPMENT:
The game with regular rules is recommended for students over 15 years old and with good table tennis knowledge. Two students aside are recommended to bring the ball between the points to make the play faster.
Paralympic Sport A-Z: Table Tennis
ATHLETICS
CATEGORIZATION:
HISTORY:
Sport, also known as track and field events in the U.S., has been a part of the Paralympic program since the first Paralympic Games in Rome, Italy, in 1960.
BASIC RULES:
The rules of Paralympic track and field are almost identical to Olympic track and field allowing for adaptations for athletes with disabilities. Certain allowances are made to accommodate certain impairments.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
Many Para athletics events require specific sport equipment such as the club, discus, shot put, and javelin. In addition, Para athletes may use certain assistive devices as specified in the World Para Athletics rules.
Wheelchairs are considered sports equipment in track and field events, and racing wheelchairs tend to be very lightweight and aerodynamic. Prosthetic devices may be used by amputees. These have been specifically developed to withstand the demands of sports competition. Rules require the use of leg prostheses in track events however the use of prostheses in field events is optional. Rope tethers or other devices may be used by runners with a vision impairment to link with their sighted guides. Acoustic devices (or a sighted "caller") may be used to indicate take-off in jumping events, throwing target areas, etc
ADJUSTED SCHOOL RULES AND EQUIPMENT:
Running for blind: A student with eyeshade can be connected with his sighted pair with various props (ribbon, lace, …) or by hand. A competition between pairs is recommended in different distances (100m, 400m, 1000m, 2400m). Sighted student has to careful for possible obstacles on the ground or not to stumble on another pair.
Triple jump: Student with eyeshade stands behind the line, makes three steps and lands on both feet, the distance is measured or marked with a chalk. A competition between students is recommended where every students has three attempts
Paralympic Sport A-Z: Athletics
Download the file: Paralympic sports - instructions for schools
