A two-day international ‘Co-design workshop’ took place on 5-6th of June, in Madrid, Spain. With an aim to exchange experience of the co-design process among all co-design partners, share initial accessibility desires/needs, and test the accessibility of the e-learning platform prototype, this workshop was coordinated by EASPD, hosted by FJC, organised by SJOG, and supported by all co-design partners of ightToConnect project. In total 25 participants from Austria, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain attended the 2 days long face-to-face workshop.
After successfully completing more than 20+ local co-design sessions to upskill all participants in design thinking methods, this workshop helped co-designers to increase their overall clarity of the e-learning platform and its easy access with navigation. Especially, the participants had the opportunity to learn hands-on from the web developer team. Most participants reported that they feel confident to use the platform autonomously.
The workshop also created a common space for all co-design partners to present their training courses (co-designed with persons with intellectual disabilities). Participants voluntarily shared that their enhanced understanding of inclusive design had improved over the first year of the project. A deeper understanding of the importance of designing with the end user (not only in mind but designing with them and not for them) helped participants to dive into working in teams, especially in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual setting. Participants also reported that different exercises such as mapping feedback, co-designing, empathy mapping etc during the workshop helped to improve their problem-solving skills in a digital setting. Lastly, participants took the opportunity to exchange their country level challenges and best practices of web accessibility, highlighting the current state of play. For many participants this workshop was an opportunity to travel and making new friends from different countries which increased their overall self-confidence and autonomy.