What does it mean to be disabled? - in the past and today
About Our Project
Let us enable ourselves to be enabling for ourselves and others!
A handicap can be a physical or mental condition – a handicap is also what is created by people and our environment, or our own framing of conditions in or around us. Understanding people with special needs starts with understanding ourselves.
Students from different countries promoted friendship and cultural learning.
We explored our environment, e.g. simulating what it is like to be blind or dependent on a wheelchair. We learned about practical details promoting inclusion. We gathered information about projects for or from people with special needs. Literature and films also offered a specific window onto the needs and the experiences of people with special needs.
Also looking at our pasts and religion offered a view on how people have dealt with people with special needs. Researching local archives, we wanted to also give a voice to the total voiceless victims of euthanasia during the Nazi period.
Before, during and after our exchanges in Slovenia and Germany we have dealt with a number of aspects of the topic: physical, psychological, historical, religious, and art. In detail we have dealt with the topic of euthanasia during National Socialism. Thus, we first explored the meaning of the term "euthanasia" and examined how the treatment of people with disabilities during the Third Reich began with forced sterilization and ended up in the gas chambers...
But we also looked at how institutions and individuals deal with people with disabilities today. In Slovenia we visited a school for handicapped children and in Germany we got an insight into working with handicapped people during special workshops.
Furthermore, we tried to emphathize with a life with disability by exploring the city blindly or in a wheelchair.
We also had contact with a victim of National Socialism. Mrs. Oelhafen was ready to talk about her fate. She was torn from her Slovenian parents as a baby by the Nazis and grew up with German parents who never really made her feel welcome. She spent many years finding her true identity. Mrs Oelhafen showed us that she too was hindered by her true identity being taken away from her.