Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2019, Blaðsíða 16

Nordic Summer Exchange

The Nordic Summer Exchange for Blind
and Visually Impaired Youth took place
in July 2019 in Reykjavík
This summer Iceland hosted the Nordic
Summer Exchange for Blind and Visually
Impaired Youth. The programme began
over forty years ago, bringing young
people (aged 18-30) from the Nordic
countries together for a week of fun,
education and adventure. This year, there
were 34 participants, plus each country’s
sighted guide and sign language inter-
preters for hearing-impaired attendees.
Funded through the EU’s Erasmus+
education, training, sport, and youth
programme, the exchange has tradi-
tionally taken place in the countryside,
unfolding at a more leisurely pace, but
this year the organisers chose Reykjavík
as the host city, embracing the theme of
“Urban Independence.” The goal was for
attendees to learn practical skills to move
in urban environs safely and confidently.
A logistical challenge
The annual exchange is a logistical chal-
lenge, involving transport from four
countries, finding housing in a tourist
hotspot, and jumping through European
regulatory hoops. These efforts were
led by exchange representatives Eyþór
Kamban Þrastarson and Marjakaisa
Matthíasson, who began planning over
a year ago.
The organisers wanted participants
to be seen, in part to show that blindness
does not have to be a barrier. Greater
Reykjavík is a sprawling city that loves its
cars and eschews public transportation.
Mastering Reykjavík, it was thought,
would prepare the participants for the
better-planned public transport systems
of their home cities.
Over the years the programme has
been running, society and technology
have changed in profound ways that
have made the lives
of blind people and
people with other
disabilities more
independent and
d i g n i f i e d . L e g a l
rights are enshrined
in national, Euro-
pean, and interna-
tional law, which
grant them equal
opportunity and
access. Assistive
devices and soft-
ware are constantly
improving, including screen readers that
vocalise everything your computer does,
thus reducing the reliance on sight.
However, these legal protections
and gadgets are not enough, and
programmes to educate and encourage
disabled people are needed to let them
live life to the fullest. “The idea was to
challenge participants and hopefully
give them experiences they had never
had before in order for them to become
more empowered in their own lives,”
says Marjakaisa. “This is very important
for disabled people, because as we know,
many of us are limited not by what we
actually can do but rather what we and
society at large thinks we can do.”
Looking back,
looking forward
The programme was launched by the
Swedish Blind Association in 1974.
Marjakaisa first attended the exchange
30-years ago, travelling to Iceland from
her native Finland. She credits that expe-
rience with her eventual move to Iceland.
While in the past Iceland’s organis-
ers have taken participants to the Blue
Lagoon or horseback riding, Eyþór and
Marjakaisa wanted to show a different
side of the country.
The participants arrived on June
25th, setting up their base in a hostel in
Reykjavík’s green Laugardalur neigh-
bourhood. They were kept busy in the
spirit of a city, visiting several city land-
marks, embarking on a hike, doing some
arts and crafts, attending seminars on
independence, navigating the notori-
ously blind-unfriendly bus system, and
even attending an improvised music
lesson. Each night, delegates from one of
the participating countries would teach
the others about their home.
Weird And Different
At the farewell dinner, the Grapevine
spoke to several participants about their
visit. Several delegates also commented
on how different and weird Iceland is.
They were reluctant to go into specifics,
though one young man commented on
how “American” the country was.
A few also mentioned the Icelandic
language—a stubborn cousin of Danish,
Norwegian, and Swedish, which have
dispensed with many of the complex
grammatical features
of Icelandic over
time. Several partici-
pants noted that they
learned and practiced
a lot of English with
their new friends.
W h e n a s k e d
what their favour-
ite part of the week
was, the univer-
sal answer was the
hike to Reykjada-
lur hot river—one
of Iceland’s unique
geothermal features—impressive to
all, whatever level of sight they have.
“Being blind just means that you can’t
see,” said Eyþór, succinctly summarising
the philosophy and goals of the exchange.
“It doesn’t mean anything else. Because
of this, we have to do some things differ-
ently, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t
do them just as well as everyone else.”
A Different
View of Iceland
The Nordic Blind Youth Summer Exchange
Eyþór Kamban Þrastarson and Marjakaisa Matthíasson. the event organisers
Words:
Kolbeinn Arnaldur
Dalrymple
Photo:
Dominika Milek
News 16 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13— 2019
“Many disabled
people are limited
not by what we
actually can do,
but rather what we
and society at large
thinks we can do.”