EXCHANGE PARTNERSHIP REPORT
Name of student:
Günter Pavlitschek
Mathias Hartmann
Öznur Candan
Nihal Gündiz
Kostja Podt
Name of Staff member:
Kunigunde Thiess
Michael Lohner
Ursula Hanke
Magnus Schober
Nicole Lehmann
Christoph Bergholz
Organisation:
Südbayerische Wohn- und Werkstätten für Blinde und Sehbehinderte gGmbH (SWW) – South Bavarian Homes and Workshops for blind and visually handicapped people
Place of visit: Osimo, Italy (near Ancona in the region „Marche“)
Period of visit: 01. 11. – 05. 11. 2008
Summary of the characteristics of the Institute visited
We visited the main institute (including communal homes, school and medical services), a training center (for users) and workshops belonging to the Lega del Filo d’;Oro. The Lega del Filo d’;Oro is a non-profit-making organization which is financed by private donations and supporters like the Lions Club, the Rotary Club, celebrities and politicians. The aim of the organization is to provide diagnosis, rehabilitation, educational training and – in some cases – a home for deaf-blind and multisensory impaired people.
In the main institute there are specialists for the diagnosis of the disabled person’;s residual senses, who help choose the most appropriate rehabilitation treatment. Following the evaluation in the Diagnostic Center, the disabled person can move on to the rehabilitation and education program (in the same building). The staff, consisting of psychologists, pedagogues, educational-rehabilitation assistants and other professionals, carry out the treatment. Clients are divided into groups on the basis of characteristics such as sensory disability, age or stage of development. Managing to communicate is the most difficult thing for a deaf-blind person, but also the most necessary. Therefore, the most important task in the rehabilitation – an educational program – is to give the clients the right tools to enable communication with others.
As far as this is possible, the disabled people are re-integrated into society and the environment from which they come – within the limits allowed by their specific disability. To achieve this objective there is also a special parent-training program for the disabled person’;s family. Naturally, as the clients grow older, it may be the case that there are no longer any living relatives that could look after them. For clients such as these, the Lega runs communal residential homes in Osimo.
The clients that stay in Osimo after the rehabilitation-program will participate in training that will make them fit to work in the handicraft workshops. The training takes place in a building that also accommodates some workshops for those that have graduated from the training-program. It is very near to the main institute, about 5 minutes by car. There is also another workshop in the city-center of Osimo that is specialized in basketwork.
Type of user
Deaf, blind, deaf-blind and other multisensory impaired people (+ parents, trainees and students).
Similarity to own organization
Like the SWW, the Lega del Filo d’;Oro is highly specialized in working with disabled people and focusing on the sensory disabled. Both organizations run workshops, training-programs and homes for their clients, and both are non-profit-making organizations.
Differences from own organization
Whilst the SWW is specialized in blind and visually handicapped people that have finished school or are adults (the youngest clients are 18 years old), the Lega del Fila d’;Oro starts with diagnostics, education and rehabilitation (especially communication-tools for deaf-blind) in early childhood, and works with the whole range of sensory disabilities.
The financing of the Lega del Filo d’;Oro is much more dependent on fund-raising than the SWW due to the lower level of contribution by the local health boards. The Lega is also bigger and more complex as an institution. In addition to the headquarters and the other branches in Osimo, there are also branches in Milan, Rome, Naples, Ruvo di Puglia, Lesmo and Modena.
Another difference lies in the organization of the workshops – the SWW-workshops sell their products and deal with orders from external companies, whilst the Lega-workshops produce without any economic interest.
Student's perception of the visit
The students took great interest in the program. Most of them where equally fascinated by the foreign country, its language, food, sights and people, as by the experience of visiting a place so similar – and yet so very different from – the place where they work and/or live. Bridging the barriers of language and handicaps through translation by the staff (Italian and German) – the students enjoyed introducing themselves, asking questions and giving answers to the Italian students and staff.
Although the program left very little room for the students to rest, they all seemed to have a really good time over the 5 days and did not become too physically exhausted. Otherwise the mental capacities (concentration/knowledge/understanding) were often taken to their limits. There was only one student that felt ill on the last day and another one who found it difficult to open his mind for the experiences.
Staff member's perception of the visit
It was very interesting for the members of staff to talk with their Italian colleagues, to learn about the similarities and differences between the SWW and the Lega del Filo d’;Oro. It was also a new experience for most of our staff members to see the communication techniques used by deaf-blind people and – of course – everybody enjoyed the beautiful countryside and the Marche’;s great food.
Description of benefits of the visit (recurring)
For our students, the exchange was a totally new situation giving them an opportunity to develop alternative views about themselves and their organization, plus probably some increase in their self-confidence.
In addition, both organizations involved got to learn about one another’;s strengths and weaknesses, and the exchange-program helps to promote institutional networking throughout the European Union.
Elements coming out of the visit which could be used by your own organization
• The Diagnostic Center in the Headquarters of the Lega del Filo d´Oro is an issue too big for a small organization like the SWW to cooperate with – but, it was quite impressive and would be a good idea as a project for organizations working with sensory disabled people throughout Bavaria.
• The mobility-training-course at the Lega (including features like different smells of plants and trees, sounds of water, different temperatures of handrails (through cooling and heating) would be a great thing to have at the SWW.
• As the Italian organization is greatly dependent on donations, it has a lot of experience with the possibilities of fundraising which the SWW can learn from.
• The workshops run by the Lega offered lots of different handicrafts for their users to proceed in – surely some of these could inspire our workshop-staff.
Description of the visit program
01.11.08
Having arrived in the late morning, we were invited for dinner in the headquarters canteen. After that, we met with a group of users and staff of the Lega, and went to visit a national park with them. At the park, we were shown an old cathedral and also a very nice exhibition dealing with the subject of different smells. We got a free tour of the exhibition and our students had a lot of fun there. Back in Osimo, in the evening, we went to a restaurant for supper (pizza and pasta) and got to the hotel quite late.
02.11.08
On this day, there was no official program, so we had the opportunity to discover the region on our own. We decided to drive to Frasassi, to see the stalactite caves. It was a very impressive sight and after the normal tour in a big group, the guide offered to give our students an exclusive tour, even allowing them to touch some of the stalactites. On the way back to Osimo, we stopped in St. Quirico to taste a famous local speciality and again in Jesi to have a look at the beautiful medieval town-center. Back in Osimo, we had a hard time finding an open restaurant for supper, as it was a Catholic Church festival that day and nearly everything was closed.
03.11.08
After breakfast, a staff member of the Lega collected us at the hotel and took us to a training center with workshops, where we met with users and staff from the organization, that showed us around, explaining how things work and giving examples of the different procedures. There was also opportunity for our students to try out some new handicrafts themselves.
At lunchtime we went to a nice little osteria all together, where a menu with local specialities was arranged for us. The osteria was run by the owner of the wine and olive growing estate who we visited after dinner. The owner showed us around his estate and introduced us to the different steps of wine production. He also had a small shop where one could purchase wine, olive oil and honey.
We had supper with the German-Italian group at a typical local restaurant in Osimo that evening, where we could experience an Italian flair one would never find in any Italian restaurant a tourist would normally come across.
04.11.08
In the morning, we visited the Lega´s basket-making-workshop in Osimo, where deaf-blind people work more independently and do more demanding work than in the other workshops we saw. We had dinner in the headquarters canteen again, and were shown around the house afterwards. After that, we drove to Ancona with a group of users and staff from the Lega, where we visited a museum for blind people. The museum features original 20th century modern art (sculptures), copies of ancient statues, original Etruscan archeological findings and models of architecture (such as the colosseum). Everything could be touched and we had a very good guide who was able to explain the background of the different exhibits.
In the evening we were invited to a fabulous meal at an organic farming estate as a farewell party.
05.11.08
Homeward Journey
Thoughts and criticism for the host organization
We had the impression of a well run organization doing very professional work. There seemed to be a warm and friendly atmosphere between the staff and the users and we met employees that were obviously highly committed to their job.
Concerning the exchange-program, we can say that we were received in a very welcoming way and our hosts gave us some useful insights into their institution and also showed us some nice places and interesting things – we were especially impressed by the superb food we got to taste and the museum for blind people.
It was a pity that we seldom found anybody from the host organization who spoke good English (as had been promised) – we would have been in quite some trouble if we hadn`t had somebody from our staff who spoke good Italian, and ended up translating all the time. The organization of the program was also a little chaotic sometimes, concerning the timetable and which member of the Italian staff was responsible for being our guide. As a result of this, we were sometimes rushed through far too many sights and explanations in too little time. As our students have only a limited capacity in concentration and absorption of new information, it would have helped somewhat to focus on fewer items when time became short. Another point that caused some confusion was who should pay for the meals in the restaurants – maybe it would be a useful thing to develop guidelines concerning these issues.
To make a few closing remarks, we had a great time in a lovely region with interesting sights and friendly people, and we would be happy to host a group of the Lega del Filo d’;Oro in Munich in return.
Grein
