Summary

This project is based on research findings and is aiming at the development of informal learning sessions within cultural events that can help adults with moderate mental and / or other types of disabilities to learn basic skills and in particular those for communication. These skills should help them to lead more independent lives, to improve their literacy or innumeracy and to further the success of gaining employment or to enter further education.

Within this project it is intended to create an European intercultural community during the cultural events that will be organised and to support this community by the use of the open source platform TikiWiki. Special care will be taken of course with respect to facilities for people with disabilities.

This intercultural community will contribute to integrate people with disabilities into social life by an improved communication environment and by improvement of their education. The community will be used by the project's partners to communicate and to develop common learning resources during the project's period and after it.

The experience of the project partners show that cultural events have an important contribution at developing basic skills of people with moderate mental or multiple disabilities.

The main target group of this learning partnership will be adults of 18+ years old with moderate mental and / or different types of disabilities. It is planned to organize cultural events in some partner countries and to motivate both people with disabilities as well as without disabilities to contribute to their care and welfare. It is also planned to bring people from a partner country to an event organised by another one. Each cultural event will contain a sequence in English additional with training sessions in native language.

Project objectives and strategy

• To support the development of basic skills particularly language ones of people with mental or other types of disabilities by training sessions within cultural events
• To connect people with disabilities, trainers, coachers, organisations of and for disabled peoples by development and using an intercultural European community
• To develop multimedia materials according to the disability's type, which can be used for the development of language skills also in other European countries and within other environments
• To know cultural particularities of the partner countries and to learn from their cultural experiences.

Approach:

• Dissemination of the objectives and planned activities within the national agencies, organisations of and for disabled people and to people with disabilities starting with the begin of the project
• Planning of cultural events in partner countries and organization of them
• Organizing learning sessions within cultural events, presentation of the TikiWiki platform
• Building of an European intercultural community with participation of adults with and without disabilities from partner countries
• Development of the supporting IT platform for the community and communication by using social media TikiWiki
• Organizing of the meetings in all partner countries
• Development of multimedia learning material based on sequences organized within cultural events
• Dissemination and valorization of learning materials and results interactively by using Web sites, the TikiWiki platform, discussions, workshops and conferences, to the national agencies or within the networks where the partners belongs
• Extension of the intercultural community to other European countries and abroad.