Inclusive Caring Communities

How can we ensure that people with disabilities are able to participate in society?

Topic: Inclusive society
Focus: Inclusion; Caring Communities; People with disabilities
Method: Co-creation, Survey

Duration: March 2023 - December 2024
Status: completed
Location: Graz
Funding: Caring Communities for Future

What is the project about?

Caring communities – communities where everyone is well looked after – are currently being discussed and conceptualised primarily in the context of the challenges posed by demographic change. Building on this finding, the research project focuses primarily on two questions:

What is necessary for the successful inclusion of people with disabilities in the social environment?
Under what conditions can disability support organisations and people with disabilities be a key driving force in shaping inclusive caring communities?

In the Inclusive Caring Communities project, researchers with and without disabilities work closely together in a participatory, inclusively designed research process. Together, they are researching two social spaces in Graz (Reininghaus, Messequartier) that show great potential for development. The existing social services provided by Lebenshilfen Soziale Dienste in these areas serve as the starting point and focal points of the inclusive research process.

What is the goal of the project?

The project team’s assumption is that the two fields – research and practice relating to ‘caring communities’ and research and practice relating to ‘inclusion’ – could benefit from bringing them closer together. The ‘Inclusive Caring Communities’ project therefore brings these two fields together and applies a participatory, inclusive research process to the research questions, in which researchers with and without disabilities work closely together. The project team expects this process to yield not only answers to the research questions, but also new, inclusive impetus for the social spaces under investigation and for local institutions. Furthermore, they anticipate that the project can make a substantial contribution to a more diverse and consolidated concept of Caring Communities. The project design ensures that the research findings will not only be systematically communicated to the various relevant stakeholders (e.g. disability support organisations, the Caring Community ‘community’), but will also remain available in the long term.

Who participates in the project?

Key players in the neighbourhoods concerned, or stakeholders with a significant connection to both social areas: residents of the neighbourhoods (people with and without disabilities), experts in urban planning, urban development and neighbourhood management, decision-makers from politics and public administration, experts in the fields of social services, health, education, arts and culture, business, etc. (e.g. doctors, social services, neighbourhood offices, disability support organisations, educational institutions, arts and cultural organisations, local businesses), key figures from the various sectors, media organisations and neighbourhood associations

How are participants involved in the project?

The project comprises four main phases:

Planning and preparation – Detailed conceptual planning and field preparation
Research – Participatory surveys in the neighbourhoods in the form of qualitative interviews using ego-centred network mapping, focus groups, walks, and other low-threshold methods
Development – Creation of a web platform (“learning platform”) on inclusive caring communities and the creation of online webinars
Transfer – Dissemination of results via the website and webinars

How are participants recruited for the project?

Local Lebenshilfe contacts, key figures, round-table discussion "Kuppelgespräch"

What are the results of the project?

The Inclusive Caring Communities project strengthened the inclusion of people with disabilities within local social environments through inclusive research, concrete initiatives at the neighbourhood level, and targeted public awareness activities.

What value and impact has the project achieved?

Many participants reported that the project activities helped reduce barriers and uncertainties in interacting with people with disabilities, fostered greater openness to social encounters, and contributed to a deeper understanding of inclusion. The project also helped make existing barriers more visible and promoted the development of mutual support networks within the local community. The project activities strengthened the integration of participating organizations into their neighbourhoods and local social environments. This was reflected, for example, in the establishment of new contacts, increased recognition of the organizations as points of contact for local residents, and concrete cooperation requests from local stakeholders. As a result, the facilities of LebensGroß were strengthened in their role as active contributors to community and neighbourhood development. Exchange and dialogue during events and workshops raised awareness of inclusive perspectives among representatives from the disability support sector, community development initiatives, and neighbourhood projects. Participants expressed interest in reusing project materials and in developing or implementing similar initiatives. Collaboration between people with and without disabilities was perceived as empowering by all project team members and constituted a key positive outcome of the project.