I.D.E.A.L. - Include Disables, Eliminate Artificial Limits

In recent years, a lot of stress is being put on inclusion of disabled or handicapped people to the society, reducing obstacles they face in their everyday lives and boosting their chances on the labor market. In Istria however, a certain level of unawareness about needs of handicapped people still prevails. By the youth exchange IDEAL, we would like to achieve five main goals.
We would like to sensitize young people from Croatia and partner countries about the fact that, from different reasons, not everyone has been gifted with a good health and a lot of people are facing more or less serious problems that affect their lives. We would like to make youngsters aware about how it feels to be handicapped, what obstacles invalid people have to overcome every day, or how they can be helped.
Secondly, we would like to initiate and support a dialogue and exchange of best practices among people from all over Europe about how their countries or municipalities are facing the problems regarding inclusion of people with disabilities and creation of barrier-free areas.
Furthermore, we would like to identify main problems and areas in the cities of north-west Istria, where the handicapped people have troubles to access. With a help of the participants of the youth exchange, we would observe public places and evaluate their accessibility.
Based on the exchange of best practices and the observation, the participants would identify the most painful issues and present them to the decision-makers from the municipalities along with possible solution based on their experience and creativity. This would help not only the people with disabilities in Istria (in case the suggestions were implemented), but also to the participants themselves by boosting their skills in bargaining with people in charge, problem identification and problem solving skills, also enabling them to leave a footprint in Istria by helping the local people.
Last, but not least, the youth exchange would promote multiculturalism, dialogue, solidarity and cultural exchange and awareness among citizens of Europe, enabling them to find new friends, nurture potential partnerships or collaborate on common projects in the future.
We aim to include four participants plus one youth leader from four European countries as partners, plus Croatia. The youth exchange will take place in Brtonigla, a village on the Istrian peninsula, Croatia. Hereby we invite all interested organizations to express their interest for a potential partnership on this youth exchange and possible future projects.