More than 350 People Became Masters of Inclusion

10:03, July 23, 2021

They can provide quality assistance to people with disabilities online now

More than 350 employees of institutions in the Sverdlovsk region that provide services to people with disabilities were trained in the "School of Masters of Inclusion". The project to teach online communication with people with disabilities is implemented by White Cane in cooperation with Ural Federal University.

Twelve groups under the program "Inclusive Online Interaction" were trained. They spent three days learning how to interact with people with hearing and visual disabilities and people with mental disabilities online in a quality way.

"There was a lot of practice over the three days, not just theory, but very accessible, concrete, interesting information! Each segment was thoughtfully organized, it was felt that a lot of work had been done to organize the trainings, to involve the listeners. Thanks to the organizers and colleagues for their work," Tatiana Prozherina, Social Work Specialist of the Kamyshlovsky District Social Service Centre, shares her impressions.

Attendees gained new competencies in three modules: "Inclusion and inclusive interaction", "Technologies and technical means of interaction with people with visual, hearing and mental disabilities online" and "Inclusive Conflict Management".

The first module dealt with such topics as the theory of inclusive interaction, digital accessibility of public services and portals. In the second module, in practical communication with coaches with disabilities, the basics of communication with people with disabilities, problems and conflicts that can arise from misunderstandings, as well as successful examples of communication were discussed. In the final block students participated in inclusive management duels, where professional arbitrators commented on their tactics to lead the conflict.

The trainers of the school were people with and without disabilities, including organizations that develop an inclusive culture in their fields: Open City, White Cane Sevastopol, the Institute of Management Design and Competitive Strategies, the Management Wrestling Federation, UrFU, and White Cane. Each training was led by an inclusive couple - a person with and without disabilities, so in each block attendees could ask questions to people with disabilities and understand how to better communicate with them online.

"I began to better understand the needs of social service agency professionals in their daily work and how they cope with the task of communicating effectively with visitors with disabilities. Face-to-face conversation with social workers expanded my understanding of their difficult case, of internal contradictions, when an official, he or she in everyday life is a service consumer, tries to understand a person with disability, put himself or herself in his or her place and learn how to properly and efficiently serve him or her," says Alexandra Lazareva, a visually impaired trainer on inclusive interaction, communication with the blind and inclusive managerial struggle.