Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RISEWISE (RISEWISE -RISE Women with disabilities In Social Engagement)
Reporting period: 2018-09-01 to 2021-02-28
Women with disabilities suffer from discrimination in several facets of their lives, such as difficulties finding employment and integrating into social day life activities.
This project focussed on the collective of women with disabilities from different perspectives, trying to identify needs and best practices in several EU countries, representing different cultural and socio-economic environments, for the integration and improvement of their quality of life in several respects. By applying a novel analysis method, based on the experience acquired by the exchange of researchers, innovation staff, and practitioners in the European area among the participating institutions, the project identifies a set of multi-sectoral research line enhancing the integration and involvement of WwD.
It is worth mentioning that advances in technologies and measures towards a stronger social engagement of people with disabilities have a positive impact finally also on the whole population, as many examples show, on how solutions have been transferred to the rest of society in fields such as human-computer interfaces, ergonomic solutions, etc.
Finally, the project's outcome has been the proposition of a coherent set of research lines and projects that will contribute to implementing solutions integrating advances from ICT services and technologies, law, enterprises, labour market, social actors, decision making, entertainment.
The last period of the project has been seriously affected by the COVID pandemic, preventing the performance of most of the secondments planned for this period.
The main objective of this period was to put into practice the methodology and working methods that have been developed previously.
This project focussed on the collective of women with disabilities from different perspectives, trying to identify needs and best practices in several EU countries, representing different cultural and socio-economic environments, for the integration and improvement of their quality of life in several respects. By applying a novel analysis method, based on the experience acquired by the exchange of researchers, innovation staff, and practitioners in the European area among the participating institutions, the project identifies a set of multi-sectoral research line enhancing the integration and involvement of WwD.
It is worth mentioning that advances in technologies and measures towards a stronger social engagement of people with disabilities have a positive impact finally also on the whole population, as many examples show, on how solutions have been transferred to the rest of society in fields such as human-computer interfaces, ergonomic solutions, etc.
Finally, the project's outcome has been the proposition of a coherent set of research lines and projects that will contribute to implementing solutions integrating advances from ICT services and technologies, law, enterprises, labour market, social actors, decision making, entertainment.
The last period of the project has been seriously affected by the COVID pandemic, preventing the performance of most of the secondments planned for this period.
The main objective of this period was to put into practice the methodology and working methods that have been developed previously.
RISEWISE performed a deep analysis of the barriers found by integrating the different experiences arising from the exchange and sharing of knowledge. With the participation of WwD as leading actors of the project, and not only as of the subject of study.
There is still a great difficulty to measure the disability and its impact on women. Where data are collected, they are not disaggregated by gender, age, and kind of disability. This is the first issue that the RISEWISE project has addressed by performing an initial analysis of the situation in numerous fields.
The methodology relied on secondments, gathering data and experiences, and providing conclusions. The project established a methodology that provides guidelines for driving the research process and supporting people. This has been complemented with a collaborative process to analyse, consolidate, and share knowledge and experience through workshops and network-based collaboration.
The project team learned to integrate the different experiences arising from these exchanges, described in deliverables. One of the advantages of the approach is comparing different countries, which the secondments made possible, supporting new approaches and research perspectives, approaching the visits from an empirical or theoretical perspective, depending on their background and their organisations.
RISEWISE has implemented the case studies to be used as a tool for analysis in the validation by hearing the voices of women living with disabilities.
Based on the narratives of the seconded individuals, their experience reports were analyzed. Information obtained from the reports has enabled us to identify the best practices. Overall, the case study method employed in the RISEWISE project proved effective as it provided an opportunity to explore the unique nature of disabilities in their specific context. The outcomes of this project constitute the foundation for future studies that can explore the value of networks to accommodate disabilities.
The main goal of the RISEWISE project was a better inclusion and empowerment of WwD in our society, using and adopting the best practices, spreading them and involving stakeholders, scientists, principal actors of the social life, citizenships, and policymakers. RISEWISE comprises 14 different organisations: academies, NGOs and enterprises: they have been performing different activities in a vast spectrum and involving WwD in several countries.
There has never been disagreement or substantial differences in every kind of activities performed. On the contrary, this diversity has been very fruitful for all the partners, and stronger links have been established among them. This has given rise to several project proposals lead by RISEWISE partners in different international programs (H2020, Europe for Citizens, and Erasmus+, for instance).
The most important dissemination activity of relevance has been the RISEWISE Jam event that was initially hosted by the Univ. of Stockholm in June 2020 but finally held online on 15 June 2021. This event attracted many participants, with presentations of shortcuts, videos, and other material that reflect on the issue of women with disabilities, with collaborations from the partners and open to others.
About the RISEWISE JAM event, please visit:
• http://www.risewiseproject.eu/risewise-jam-event/
• https://risewisejam2020.wixsite.com/risewisejam2020
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jam+risewise
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZ0khZ9aWQ and others.
There is still a great difficulty to measure the disability and its impact on women. Where data are collected, they are not disaggregated by gender, age, and kind of disability. This is the first issue that the RISEWISE project has addressed by performing an initial analysis of the situation in numerous fields.
The methodology relied on secondments, gathering data and experiences, and providing conclusions. The project established a methodology that provides guidelines for driving the research process and supporting people. This has been complemented with a collaborative process to analyse, consolidate, and share knowledge and experience through workshops and network-based collaboration.
The project team learned to integrate the different experiences arising from these exchanges, described in deliverables. One of the advantages of the approach is comparing different countries, which the secondments made possible, supporting new approaches and research perspectives, approaching the visits from an empirical or theoretical perspective, depending on their background and their organisations.
RISEWISE has implemented the case studies to be used as a tool for analysis in the validation by hearing the voices of women living with disabilities.
Based on the narratives of the seconded individuals, their experience reports were analyzed. Information obtained from the reports has enabled us to identify the best practices. Overall, the case study method employed in the RISEWISE project proved effective as it provided an opportunity to explore the unique nature of disabilities in their specific context. The outcomes of this project constitute the foundation for future studies that can explore the value of networks to accommodate disabilities.
The main goal of the RISEWISE project was a better inclusion and empowerment of WwD in our society, using and adopting the best practices, spreading them and involving stakeholders, scientists, principal actors of the social life, citizenships, and policymakers. RISEWISE comprises 14 different organisations: academies, NGOs and enterprises: they have been performing different activities in a vast spectrum and involving WwD in several countries.
There has never been disagreement or substantial differences in every kind of activities performed. On the contrary, this diversity has been very fruitful for all the partners, and stronger links have been established among them. This has given rise to several project proposals lead by RISEWISE partners in different international programs (H2020, Europe for Citizens, and Erasmus+, for instance).
The most important dissemination activity of relevance has been the RISEWISE Jam event that was initially hosted by the Univ. of Stockholm in June 2020 but finally held online on 15 June 2021. This event attracted many participants, with presentations of shortcuts, videos, and other material that reflect on the issue of women with disabilities, with collaborations from the partners and open to others.
About the RISEWISE JAM event, please visit:
• http://www.risewiseproject.eu/risewise-jam-event/
• https://risewisejam2020.wixsite.com/risewisejam2020
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jam+risewise
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZ0khZ9aWQ and others.
In social, anthropological, and medical studies, the topic of WwD is relatively young. The approach to the specificity of the conjunction between being a woman and having a disability has a recent history and still needs to be explored and investigated from different points of view. Only a few studies have analysed the condition of women's disability by using measurement instruments or paradigms that are women-related. Intersectionality is a young discipline born at the end of the last century in the USA. Intersectionality is the general approach used within RISEWISE. RISEWISE gave voices to those unheard and confined in a too specialistic field, such that one related to health issues, social issues, or similar.
The experiences have been analysed in public conferences and consolidation workshops, where the experience reports have been analysed for a common understanding of the results of the experiences and a scientific framework beyond state of the art.
Training and knowledge sharing have been performed inside the project but also open to other individuals and organizations in the society. These activities had a positive impact in enhancing the research and innovation capabilities of the individuals in several ways, depending on their activity, but all were devoted to women with disabilities.
Disability issues and special needs should be natural components of EC projects and not an exception. The consortium is very thankful for the exceptions obtained, for example, regarding the accompanying persons of a person with a disability travelling for RISEWISE. However, at the same time, the consortium wondered to see that this instance has been considered for the first time by the European Financial Officers. Likewise, the pandemic is still extraordinarily affecting Europe and requests/requested extraordinary responses. The EC did not concede to perform virtual mobility for our project, allowing it for many others. Notwithstanding, as per in the above, RISEWISE succeeded.
The experiences have been analysed in public conferences and consolidation workshops, where the experience reports have been analysed for a common understanding of the results of the experiences and a scientific framework beyond state of the art.
Training and knowledge sharing have been performed inside the project but also open to other individuals and organizations in the society. These activities had a positive impact in enhancing the research and innovation capabilities of the individuals in several ways, depending on their activity, but all were devoted to women with disabilities.
Disability issues and special needs should be natural components of EC projects and not an exception. The consortium is very thankful for the exceptions obtained, for example, regarding the accompanying persons of a person with a disability travelling for RISEWISE. However, at the same time, the consortium wondered to see that this instance has been considered for the first time by the European Financial Officers. Likewise, the pandemic is still extraordinarily affecting Europe and requests/requested extraordinary responses. The EC did not concede to perform virtual mobility for our project, allowing it for many others. Notwithstanding, as per in the above, RISEWISE succeeded.