“Spaziergang mit Sinnen”

Posted on: 28th November 2023

The EU-funded “Spatial Justice” project aims to improve the accessibility of spaces for young people. As part of this project, Wonderland is running a partnership with the “Sale for Alle” youth center to organise a workshop which discovers the spatial difficulties of blind people.

The workshop invites children and young people aged 11 to 18 to participate in an unusual neighborhood walk. Wearing a blindfold and carrying a cane, they explore their surroundings under the expert guidance of Monika Weinrichter. Through playful activities, such as blindfolded football or guessing plastilin-shapes a la “Activity”-procedure, participants will develop a deeper understanding of the obstacles and barriers faced by blind and visually impaired people. The main aim of this initiative is to create a better understanding of the everyday living conditions of people with visual impairments. Beyond the physical barriers, the project aims to highlight the social and cultural challenges in urban areas. Together, we want to promote empathy and mutual understanding and in this way contribute to better coexistence in our city. We believe that interactive projects like this help to build a more inclusive and empathetic community. Through shared experiences and challenges, we can work together to make our cities accessible to all.

Event Program

How to let youth discover the topic of Spatial Justice for blind people? Wonderland organised in the line with Spatial Justice Project a 2 day workshop in which he highlight the spatial realities faced by people with blindness. The workshop took place in the facilities of the “Sale für Alle” in the 3th district.

Day 1: Community activities

The project kicked off on November 6, 2023 by offering thematic input in the form of additional offers to the usual youth center activities. In the sunshine and warm autumn weather, visitors to the “Community Afternoon” were able to get to grips with the topic of blindness in 2 activities.

Firstly the children and young people had the opportunity to play blind socer, practiced with a bell ball. By listening to the sounds of the bell inside the ball one could blindfolded move around the field. As football is a very common activity in the youth centre it was very interesting to adapt this game in an inclusive way and by doing so exchanging ideas about sensory perception, daily barriers and the common interests of blind and visually impaired people.

Furthermore we offered an indoor game as we designed a modeling-touch exercise based on “Activity”. One child modeled a piece of plasticine, which the other players then had to feel with their eyes covered. The game tackled the enormous aspect of the tactile sense in the everyday-life of visually impaired people.

We spent a very active afternoon enjoying ourselves both indoors and outdoors and were able to raise awareness of the challenges faced by blind people in everyday life. We also had interesting conversations while sitting together in a chilled environment. The event ended with a feedback session with Maximilian (Wonderland) and the staff of “Sale für Alle”, where experiences and insights from the afternoon were shared.

Date: 06.11.2023 / 16:00-18:00 Monday

Format: First input & promotion

16:00 – 17:00 blindfolded football
17:00 – 18:00 indoor game

Event Space: Sale für ALLE Hagenmüllergasse 31, 1030 Wien

Participants: 28 children, 6 youth centre workers, 1 Wonderland member

Day 2: blind walk

On 13.11.2023, Monika Weinrichter, a blind expert, visited the “Sale für Alle” youth centre as part of the “Wonderland” organization. Monika has no sense of sight and invited the children to take a walk with her through the neighborhood. But blindfolded and with a touch stick.

Under Monika’s guidance, all those interested first practiced in the courtyard of the youth centre how to use the touch stick, listen with their ears and explore the surroundings blindfolded. We then began our walk in pairs, one child blindfolded and accompanied by a sighted member of staff, in wittering conditions. We now walked through the streets and inner courtyard of a Viennese municipal building complex and paid attention to all the tactile, audible and perceptible aspects that we could perceive and that enabled us to find our way around in a completely unfamiliar way. Monika explained about the challenges and problems that affect the accessibility of public spaces for blind people, but also how she deals with them. The children responded well to the experience, even if they did want to walk sighted at times, due it could be really challenging. So our exploration tour was very exciting and varied.

When we finally returned to the facilities of the youth center, we warmed up with a hot cup of tea. The children asked Monika about her blindness and interesting conversations ensued.The children were made aware of accessibility in a playful and above all light-hearted dialog.