Deafened People thriving in OS

Sun Apr 24 07:38:06 PDT 2005

Diane – thanks for this expansion of our collective space. I might add to
the good things you said that, in my experience, Open Space for people with
all sorts of disabilities (and we all have some sort of disability) seems to
be a particularly rich environment, and any concern about “their” capacity
to operate in Open Space should simply be disregarded. Of course some
special provisions need to be made, but they are usually of a simple sort
and no big deal. And the rewards for including the often excluded folks more
than justify the effort. Several stories come to mind.

Several years ago a large program for the Developmentally Challenged held an
Open Space on the future of their organization. To save some money, the
event took place in one of the program’s facilities – and surprise! – the
clients came!! Seeing chairs set in a circle, the “patients” took a seat,
and pitched right in, posting issues (with some help) and attending
sessions. Everything like usual – except that some time after the Open
Space, when the organization was doing its “end of the year numbers,” the
administration was pleasantly surprised to find that they were delivering
something like twice the services for the same dollars. Reason? It turned
out that approximately half of what they had previously offered, the clients
neither wanted not needed. But nobody had ever asked them. Another surprise:
about a year later when the clients were tested for their ability to cope in
the world, it turned out that the level of coping skills had increased
dramatically – to the point that the administrator of the program told me
that Open Space turned out to be the most powerful single treatment program
they had ever experienced. 

Another tale – When doing a training program it happened that one of our
members was restricted to a wheel chair. He was concerned that “walking the
circle” could be a problem from the chair. So the group quickly formed a
large circle and we did the test. When he had completed the circuit, the
group sat in stunned silence. It turns out that when you bound the circle
from a wheel chair, you are at eye level with all participants. The intimacy
and the impact blew us all away.

Harrison 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>

Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Diane
Gibeault
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 7:55 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Deafened People thriving in OS

Possibilities with Open Space are almost limitless. 

Here is how I adapted the process to meet the challenges at hand for this
Open Space meeting for deafened people - people who once heard and spoke but
have now lost their hearing completely or in good part and have not
necessarily learned sign language or lip reading. 

The invitation from a volunteer organization went to the community at large.
Over twenty people met for half a day. The theme was focussed on service and
access needs of deafened people. Communication was assisted by interpreters,
sound enhancing ear plugs and simultaneous captioning services enabling
participants to read spoken words on a large screen. 

We were able to preserve the formation of the full circle of chairs by
having some of the hearing participants (partner accompanying a deafened
participant, sponsor of the organization, sign language interpreter and
facilitator) sit at one end of the circle, their backs to the screen which
other participants needed to see. 

As the facilitator, I could not walk in the circle while speaking because it
would have interfered with the view of the screen but I did walk around the
circle once without speaking. I had told the group I would do so and that at
the same time, they were invited to let their eyes go around the circle,
acknowledging the richness of the people present. I made eye contact with
everyone, we all smiled and nodded to welcome each other and they did the
same with other participants. The circle was bound.

Harisson Owen’s “less is more” never was so true. To explain the process, I
had to speak slowly, using few words, choosing key important ones so that
the captioning note takers and interpreters would represent the ideas as
clearly and as completely as possible. Otherwise, they will cut on what was
said or put it in words that may not reflect as well what you wanted to say.
Beth Martin a OS trainee who assisted in the Open Space was asked by the
sponsor to take the role of reading the screen and signalling to me when I
had to slow down. If a message had been really distorted, she would have
caught it and let me know.

Participants wrote their topics and only when all had finished did they take
turns to announce them from their seat. This way, everyone could look at the
screen or interpreter. Otherwise, they would have missed the topic
announcements because they would be looking at their sheet while writing
their own topic. Participants with topics then picked up a Post-it with time
and place and put up their topics on the wall. After this first round, some
came up with more ideas for topics and we proceeded in the same way again. 

Once all the topics were on the wall, further instructions were given and
off they went to sign up. If they needed to negotiate combinations or time
changes, they could communicate with each other by writing on the paper pad
they were given or calling upon an interpreter. Each meeting site had a
large screen computer and a note taker and participants sat around to read
on the screen what was being said. Interpreters went where they were needed.
There was a talking piece at every meeting site to help see who was
speaking. A real break was scheduled between the two discussion rounds to
give everyone a rest from reading. 

Discussion reports were completed after the event, given it was only a half
day meeting. For reporting to the entire group at the end of the event, two
flip charts were placed near the circle in the plenary room and initiators
had been invited to write two or three lines that captured the key idea or
action coming out of their discussion. This encouraged them to organize
their thoughts and it condensed the reporting period. Initiators read their
two line reports that were captured by the interpreters and the larger
screen. Participants exchanged comments, reactions and more stories. 

For the closing, the talking piece worked like it always does and words came
from the heart to bring meaningful closure to this event. 

They were energised by this kind of exchange that brought them out of their
isolation. They would have wanted to keep on. They talked about having
another meeting. This kind of experience was a first of its kind for these
participants and for this community of people with hearing challenges. A few
months later, they formed a self-help group that is now meeting regularly.

The quickness of participants to take charge of the process, the level of
participation, the energy and the enthusiasm about the results and about
this way of meeting were the same as for all the other open space groups I
have facilitated. Open Space does work with any group as long as there is
passion for the reason that brings people together.

Diane Gibeault 

Diane Gibeault CPF / FPA

Diane Gibeault & Assoc.

 <http://www.dianegibeault.com/> www.dianegibeault.com

 <http://www.dianegibeault.comgibeault@rogers%20.com/> diane.gibeault at rogers
.com  Ottawa Canada   (613) 744-2638 

Facilitation and Training in Support of Transformation
Facilitation et formation en appui à la transformation

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