The Covid-19 emergency has generated a crisis that affects all sectors and policies and for which responses are being sought that can allow us to move forward. In this context, Cultural Heritage represents a resource for training, reflection and personal growth, and today more than ever, it is important that it continues to develop through a reflective and open approach. Heritage is understood in different way, no longer as a place of preservation and exhibition, but also and above all as a space at the service of citizens, where cultural places become tools for the promotion of well-being.
Thanks to the study and dissemination of a culture aimed at respecting Heritage itself, we can reflect on our past, on the history that has shaped our contemporaneity and on the assets that we must preserve for ourselves and for future generations, but also on the relationship between health and society.
For the present, cultural heritage offers a truly inclusive environment with emotional and physiological benefits that we should all enjoy. The Erasmus+ KA2 Project ACCEASY Easy to Read Easy to Access, intends to develop a methodology and tools that promote an inclusive and accessible European heritage, also for people with cognitive difficulties, to facilitate the full participation of these people in society.
Thanks to the work of the ACCEASY team – which consists of 6 European partners from 5 countries – Fundación Aspanias Burgos (Spain) (project coordinator), e-code (Slovakia), EGInA (Italy), aCapo (Italy), IMS Research & Development (Cyprus) and The Autism Association of Cyprus (Cyprus) – the project will produce two fundamental tools for the accessibility of Heritage:
- Database with key technical concepts, adapted in 5 languages, which will allow its use in different contexts. This is an innovative and necessary tool that will be developed and tested by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as heritage experts from different EU countries.
- Handbook aimed at heritage professionals. A guide with practical advice and instructions so that cultural heritage in all its dimensions is accessible to all people. Developed and tested with the collaboration of heritage professionals and intellectual disability professionals. The manual will be supported by 2 training actions.
- One focused on cognitive accessibility, of short duration, aimed at heritage professionals.
- One aimed at intellectual disabilities professionals to incorporate heritage into the recreation, therapeutic, and personal development programs of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Please, follow the Facebook page of ACCEASY project to discover the next steps of the project.