I’ve been busy these last couple weeks with all kinds of things, but most notably, working with the Poverty Reduction Summit – Striving to Thriving in Trail.

We had our first part of the Summit last week, and are looking forward to some real ‘feet on the ground’ action next week. I can only hope that the group – a big one – can dream their vision into being. The group is being very capably facilitated by Lynn Green shepherding everyone through what is their first (for some)Appreciative Inquiry process. It was a pleasure to be there in a graphic recording capacity.

As usual, the charts themselves are confidential – but I wanted to share the one little image from the day.

We talk about universal design a lot in school settings. The idea behind it is that anyone walking into a classroom would find the work and space accessible to them regardless of ability. If you design the room and the work with universal design principles in mind, you remove barriers for the individuals in the space. Everyone has access. Everyone has things in place to support their success, regardless of literacy level, vision and hearing abilities, mobility considerations, neurological sensitivities, identity and socio-economic status. The beauty in this idea (for me) lies in the concept that there is nothing unnecessary between the student and the learning.

One of the big ideas underlying the conversation we had last week was around universal design: brainstorming and dreaming into being a way that would allow all the people of the region barrier-free access to the thriving community they are envisioning. In trying to look at this problem from this inclusive and appreciative point of view the beauty is (like the classroom) that there would be nothing unnecessary between the citizens of the area and the strong, effective, meaningful lives they want.

Whew. And next week we get to do part two. I’ve got my markers ready.

Lisa