Diversity and disability in Open Space

Michelle Cooper coopgrp at interlynx.net
Tue Mar 7 09:07:37 PST 2000


I had the privilege of opening and holding space for a congress of women
over the past weekend.  Approximately 100 people attended.  There are many
layers of stories to this open space event, many of which I have not
unpacked, but I will start here.

First, I want to thank Birgitt for her words "but being an open channel to
have the energy of Spirit flowing through me" in her response to Andrew's
e-mail.  I have been trying to find ways to hold space without being quite
so depleted physically as well as spiritually (and I am not able to take a
nap while holding space).  These words created an  "aha" experience when I
read them just before leaving for the conference. I focused my pre-open
space meditation and prayer on doing just that, having spirit flow through
me rather than from me.  What a difference it made. I felt very grounded,
and held space with a sense of ease that I have not yet experienced before.
That is not to say that the day and one half was without challenge. Much to
the contrary!  But that is another story.  While I felt physically
exhausted, I did not have the experience of my inner spiritual and energy
reserves being drained.  In fact, I felt like I had actually been "topped
up".

The open space participants were as diverse a group as I had ever
experienced.  The women present represented every province and territory in
Canada (including our new territory Nanuvit).  There was diversity of age,
race, culture, education, interests and ability and a seeing-eye dog was
part of the circle.  I had some angst when I realized that  one woman
present was deaf-blind and another was deaf, given that open space is so
visual and auditory focused.  Each of these two women had an intervenor. The
deaf woman had a stenographer who typed every word verbatim and it appeared
on a computer screen before the participant  (This process necessitated a
small table being part of the circle in front of the participant.  It seemed
to actually meld in and become part of the circle.  However, the participant
did move herself out from behind the table when she was speaking in the
circle at closing.) The side benefit of this was that every session she
attended had a word by word transcript.  The deaf-blind woman had someone
tracing all words said in American Sign Language on her palm. They were able
to fully participate.  Both of these women posted topics and led discussion
and both topics ended up in the top priorities in the convergence. Other
participants came forward to help them as necessary, as they did for others
with disabilities.  Some initial feedback - the sound system was not quite
set correctly, so that some of my words got missed (lesson: need to play
with the mike a bit more ahead of time), but the slow paced introduction
(which I was told proceeded at a rate of 180 words per minute) helped. The
deaf-blind person appreciated that I walked the circle. She could detect
when I was closer and felt included.

Aboriginal women were strongly represented at this conference.  One of the
women had done concurrent sessions on the day prior to the open space where
the concept of healing circles had been discussed and the talking stick used
in the session.  The deaf-blind woman had found that session great, because
only one person spoke at a time!! I had been asked to do a brief
introduction to open space at the conference opening (as difficult as it is
to talk about rather than do).  A participant shared with me that the next
day that one of the aboriginal women commented negatively about the notion
of "stealing cultural traditions" and then marketing them.  I had neglected
to say that OST was not copyrighted or trademarked, even though I had
acknowledged that Harrison had drawn from many cultures and traditions as he
developed the process. The concerns did not emerge again as we actually did
the open space part of the meeting.  I did overhear discussion between one
elder and another participant discussing this comment.  She simply said that
some people feel this way.  Any thoughts Chris?

Throughout the open space, participants thanked me for the process (which I
pass on to you Harrison). They took to it quickly. Their words included that
it was an empowering way of learning, it was like expanding the kitchen
table (a rural woman),  and said it (OS) needed to be a part of learning in
more forums.  They thanked me for taking away the guilt of having to leave
when proceedings were not really over (the law of mobility!).

As I write this, many of the other learnings are percolating. I will stop
with this - The weekend was more evidence to me of the power of open space
when diversity is present, and as Barb said, how natural OS is for people,
regardless of physical ability.

Michelle
Michelle Cooper, RN, MScN
The Cooper Group Consultants
200 Crestview  Avenue
Ancaster, Ontario
Canada L9G1E2
Telephone -     (905) 648- 4633
Fax -           (905) 648-1763
E-mail          coopgrp at interlynx.net
The paradox of control is simple. The more we try to control life, the
less control we have.  Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., Minding The Body, Mending The
Mind



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