Credit: Handicap International Luxembourg
Handicap International Luxembourg has announced that it is launching a campaign in favour of inclusion on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is celebrated annually on 3 December.
Through its "BeInclusive" campaign, Handicap International Luxembourg aims to promote a model of solidarity in which society adapts to the needs of all. According to the the non-profit organisation, men and women are now more than ever agents of change and, as such, privileged stakeholders in an inclusive society in the making. To achieve this, they will need to build on the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that will empower them to fully play their role as global citizens.
The non-profit maintained that an inclusive society means that everyone has their place and no one's place is worth less than others, for example because of disability, gender, skin colour or economic or cultural situation. An inclusive society adapts to its citizens and not the other way around.
For this new campaign, Handicap International Luxembourg has opted to use strong words such us "maladjusted" (inadapté) or "incapable" and play with the perception of negations.
“With these images and strong words, we wanted to show that our perception of disabled or vulnerable people can be totally upset by simply changing our point of view. The common interpretation that we have of a deficiency or of a difference is here completely reinterpreted", explained Mehdi Magha, Director of Handicap International Luxembourg.
For the non-profit, exclusion is the reflection of the way we look at these people, biased by the prism through which society makes us see them: stigmatisation of difference, negative attitudes, discriminatory policies and practices, inaccessible spaces… What if we change our perspective? What prevents a child with paraplegia from going on the swings? His / her wheelchair? Or a badly adapted playground?
The public is invited to share their own experiences and ideas for a more inclusive society on the website: www.beinclusive.lu.
