No compassion, together in action!

Abstract

Start a caring neighborhood from the direction of people with a specific vulnerability (autism) with the support of very diverse actors, it is possible!
 De Vijver (organization that supports people with disabilities) went in search of interesting places in the neighborhood with people with autism and connects them to a short walk. Around those places we went together with schools in the neighborhood, the art academy, service centers for the elderly, to make texts, images, works of art and videos. These were canned and put behind a QR code. Anyone who takes the walk in the area can discover the many stories via the QR code at each spot. To launch the walking route, a work of art was made with neighbours at the starting point of the route for 4 weeks.
 The objective of this approach was, on the one hand, to see vulnerable people not always as people seeking for help, but as a very valuable actor in a neighbourhood. On the other hand, we also wanted to create the first basic condition for strengthening living together and caring for each other in a neighbourhood, namely getting to know each other organically by building something for the neighborhood together.
 In this workshop we will show you how we succeeded.
 We also zoom in on the difficulties we encountered and the keys to success. We let you enjoy live images of how everything came about.
 Then we want to confront our approach with your experiences.
 We end with some take home messages.