Board game about disabilities

Description of the tool

You use an existing board game or prepare a board game with fields in three different colours. Each colour has a certain meaning: for example:
-white fields are regular playing fields.
-red fields mean that the player has to complete a task.
-green fields mean that the player has to answer a question.

If your group is very big, divide the group into smaller teams (e.g. of 5 participants)

The players (in group) thrown the dice in turn and move their piece on the board.
If a player lands on a red field, the group has to determine a representative, who will complete the task.
If a player lands on a green field, all group members may find the correct answer to the question.

After each task or question the facilitator debriefs: how did it go? what should happen in the ideal case? What can we learn from this?

It is very interesting when persons with a disability are present, so they can give informations and tips how to deal with the experienced difficulties from their own experience.

Examples for red field tasks:

- cover a distance with crutches (with some activities on the road: drink coffee, hold a shopping bag, ring on a mobile phone,...)
- ride through a prepared obstacle parcours in a wheelchair (small doors, doorstep, tables, chairs,...)
- identify items blindfoldedly
- fill a glass with water blindfoldedly
- describe blindfolded a story from a picture book in brail
- try to find blindfolded items by smelling
- ... be creative and choose tasks linked to your target group (the disability you might meet).

Examples for green-field questions:

- how can a blind person know the time? : give three possibilities
- give three professions that a blind person, a wheelchair user, a deaf person,... can or cannot carry out.
- can a wheelchairuser drive a car? how?
- what is epilepsy?
- ... be creative or choose questions linked to your target group.

To sum up: the aim of this exercice is not to win the board game, but to discover disabilities and their solutions. One big learning point is to communicate with people with a disability: if you don't know - ASK.

After 60 minutes game (or longer), take the time to debrief the whole exercice.

When you have enough time afterwards let the participants experience/accustom themselves to the special material (brail books and games, wheelchairs and crutches, etc).