fot. Agata Mitek
A “Disability Simulator” will come into being at the University of Wrocław, Faculty of Social Sciences (interview)
At the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Wrocław, a laboratory called “Disability Simulator” will be created. The application for it received funding as a result of a competition organized by the Rector – money coming from the Fund for Subsidizing Teaching Laboratories. The author of the application is dr Dariusz Szrejder, who is a lecturer at the Institute of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Wrocław, a member of the Wrocław Without Barriers (Wrocław Bez Barier) Office, has been helping people with disabilities for over twenty years. The “Disability Simulator” laboratory will become a learning place for students from fields of study like social work who will be able to experience all the changes that occur with our agility when we age thanks to the old age simulator, or for a moment experience how people with Parkinson’s disease function. We talked to Dariusz Szrejder, taking an opportunity to commemorate the Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is celebrated on the 3rd of December.
What can students learn at the “Disability Simulator” laboratory? How many people are estimated to be able to use it? Will the laboratory be intended only for students and employees of our university? Can it be used “more widely”?
The purpose of setting up the “Disability Simulator” laboratory is mainly to raise “soft” abilities in the broadest sense, to work on awareness. When working with people, “understanding” points of view, appreciating knowledge and experience, and awareness of our individual differences because of our capabilities helps a lot.
Because I’ve been working with people with disabilities for years now, I see every day that the reality around us is not in a “friendly”, accessible one for everyone. In our daily life, we encounter limitations or impediments, which are referred to as barriers. When our individual characteristics and barriers in the world around us come into contact, the phenomenon of “disability” comes into being. For someone, a barrier will be a door that is too low, while for someone else it will be a counter in a reception area that is positioned too high. These are architectural barriers. For someone, the plaques on the doors will be illegible because they reflect light and the letters are not visible, or the letters used for the plaque are too small. These are informational and communicational barriers. Someone will find a website illegible because it can’t be read with a screen reader that blind people use. These are digital barriers.
Experiencing these barriers is possible through the use of proper teaching methods and equipment. This is what the laboratory will be used for: raising our awareness through experience.
My intention for the laboratory is to teach a wide audience – both our academic community and those willing from the external environment (e.g. public institutions, non-governmental organizations, businesses), anyone who wishes to experience it.
What equipment will be present in the laboratory room? What will the university purchase?
At the beginning, the room will be equipped with several pieces of equipment used for simulations, which will put the participant in the shoes of a person experiencing a certain condition. The equipment consists of an old age simulator, which is in fact a special suit that allows us to experience the changes that occur in our agility with age (decrease in muscle strength, limitations of joint movement, deterioration of vision and hearing). Furthermore, a kit for simulating Parkinson’s tremors, a part of which is a special glove that simulates hand tremors, reducing hand dexterity. There are also goggles to simulate various eye defects, but it’s not about eye defects that can be corrected with typical glasses; here in this kit are goggles that let you experience tunnel vision, spherical vision, half vision, etc.; you can try to see the world through a keyhole, or see only what is on our right side.
Equipment used on a daily basis by people with disabilities, such as wheelchairs, will also be present. It will make it possible to experience how we operate in the material (architectural) dimension when we encounter a doorway that is too narrow, a staircase that cannot be bypassed, or an uneven surface. There will be canes, crutches, walking frames – commonly used equipment.
The room will also be equipped with gadgets for everyday use, which will showcase technical aids that help in operating at home and at work. Liquid meters to help with pouring liquids into containers – the answer to how a blind person makes tea. A doorbell for a deaf person, and so on.
Equipment and materials that support communication. Cards used for communication with a deaf person, communication materials (passports) for alternative and supportive communication used for communication with people with intellectual disabilities and people who do not speak. Induction loop to support communication with hearing impaired people who use hearing aids.
Finally, there will also be equipment that improves and supports safety when using public spaces, buildings or institutions; evacuation chairs, evacuation mattress. These serve as specialized equipment that appears more frequently in institutions, so everyone should know how to use them, and what they are used for.
What limitations do people with disabilities face today? What is the biggest problem? The biggest barrier(s) is? Overall, what else is there to do?
The starting point is our knowledge and awareness. Most of the barriers we face in our life are a result of ignorance of those who designed and are designing the world around us – infrastructure, products, objects, services. Our approach to other people is changing – we want as many individuals as possible to be able to use spaces, facilities, products and services. This is what “universal design” does. For example, we have a more liberal approach to left-handedness now than when I was a left-handed child. “Allowing” left-handedness to exist brought the need to create objects that can be used by these people – scissors for right-handed people are unusable for left-handed people, contoured tools, appliances, etc. are also. We are adapting everyday items, new solutions are being developed, designs for individual use are being created.
We are already capable of designing environments that are accessible to as many users as possible, regardless of their individual abilities. The room will also provide an opportunity to learn about the principles of universal design.
There has been steady progress in this area, accessibility is becoming a social norm, and we are more often removing barriers because we feel it is the right thing to do, not because the law dictates it.
Can anyone work with people with disabilities? What skills, abilities and character traits are needed?
The scope and scale of work with people with disabilities definitely allow everyone to seek their own path. It can be direct work with people with disabilities (e.g. care, assisting, teaching, therapy), it can be advocacy work (acting for the community of people with disabilities, legislative work), or increasing the accessibility of space (architectural design, urban design).
Each of the career paths requires appropriate skills, knowledge and competence; some of them require appropriate authorizations (therapist, lawyer, designer).
At the Institute of Sociology, I work with students of social science, mainly with those of the Social Work major, where we educate future social workers. The social work profession is focused on the process of helping, supporting people in difficult life situations. Understanding the client’s situation, its origin and establishing a help process, requires taking into account the individual capabilities of our clients, people who are seeking help. Our individual qualities, talents, and knowledge of other people are also important in this process. Patience, sincerity, understanding, honesty, ability to build trust, communicativeness, and many other qualities are needed and useful in this field. Sometimes context is needed to understand a problem, for example, poor hearing will make a difference during a conversation, which is one of the basic tools of working with people.
Why are we afraid of interacting with people with disabilities? Maybe some tips? Savoir vivre towards people with disabilities? Is language important? What phrases should we avoid? People with disabilities or people with disabilities? People who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf or Deaf?
Most people do not come into contact with individuals with disabilities on a daily basis, so there is a lack of social competence, sometimes it is fear or the aforementioned lack of awareness. When working with students, I can showcase the multiplicity and complexity of relationships we can encounter using simulation methods. It is a cliché to write that we are all special and unique, but there is truth in that. However, this should not result in a situation in which we avoid coming into contact with people outside our social competence. Sometimes the “fears” are simple to tame: can I say “goodbye” to a blind person? Am I making a mistake by saying “let’s go” to a person in a wheelchair?
There is one simple rule – don’t be afraid to ask. People with disabilities are willing to help us and explain if and what kind of help they need at the moment. There are materials being developed, guides like Savoir Vivre, available to anyone who is willing to learn.
Do we have students with disabilities at the university? Do we know the statistics? How many such people are studying at our university, with what kind of disabilities?
People with disabilities are important in our academic community, although the real number is difficult to estimate, for many reasons. We know that among students and doctoral students there are 344 people with the status of a person with a disability (formal or registered disability). But also employees may experience disabilities, as well as foreign visitors and people who contact our university. Therefore, all activities aimed at improving the accessibility of our university are aimed at a more or less identified category of people. Estimates, because we really only have them due to the complexity of the issue, indicate that about 15% of the population is affected by various forms of disability. But we actually pay attention not only to disability. Accessibility measures are directed to the category of “people with special needs.”
Inclusion and integration – what are the simplest methods for achieving this? What each of us can do in this regard on a daily basis.
First of all, I think sensitivity towards other people is the first step for integration and inclusion. The understanding that I shouldn’t focus on what I can’t do, but turning my attention to what I can do. There is potential in each one of us, sometimes it needs to be released, sometimes special conditions are needed to realize the potential – it requires adjusting the space, the device, the workplace. Most of the time the least you can do is to look around you, pay attention to details, details in behavior, in clothing, in the way we communicate.
What can people with disabilities teach us?
They teach me “attentiveness”. Everyone is unique, so there is no one universal answer, no universal solution. What I know about people is sometimes completely useless, I have to learn from scratch. They teach me “respect” regardless of observable characteristics, not to judge people by the situation they are in. “Consistency” in pursuing goals. “A different view” of what is around us.
What made you interested in the problems of people with disabilities and their environment?
I started working with people with disabilities in the 1990s, while I was still a student. At that time I worked in a newly created center for people with special needs. Later came work in non-governmental organizations and more and more contacts with wonderful people; workers, organizers, activists. These contacts and practical knowledge I acquired resulted in a doctoral thesis on disability issues. I have been getting to know the environment of people with disabilities for more than 20 years now; learning, making contacts, finding news. Currently, I am also working in the Wrocław Without Barriers (Wrocław Bez Barier) Office of the Wrocław City Hall, which allows me to constantly stay in contact with organizations, institutions, and people from this sector. It is here that I learn about solutions regarding the principles of accessibility, universal design, then I pass on practical knowledge to students during classes. The “Disability Simulator” laboratory will hopefully be a step in creating a “friendly” world for everyone.
Interviewed by Agata Mitek (Communication Department of University of Wrocław)
Translated by Karolina Szmidla (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
