VEMAS - Behavior makes sense
Understanding behavioral problems of people with disabilities - seeing the person - changing the perspective.
Duration: 2021–2024
Funding Program: ERASMUS+Project Partners: University of Innsbruck, Austria (coordinator), University of Würzburg, Germany (partner), Service for Self-Determined Living, Belgium (partner)
In this EU-funded adult education project, a broad-based and differentiated concept for further education and advanced training will be developed, implemented and evaluated. For this purpose, didactic instructions and materials such as an online course, case histories, explanatory videos, a practical textbook, a collection of diagnostic methods and further tools for reflection will be developed, which should enable different occupational groups in the fields of medicine, psychology and education as well as immediately related persons such as parents, siblings or friends and last but not least the affected persons themselves to better understand behavioural problems and their meaning.
VEMAS is intended to establish an advanced training and further education program that addresses a socially highly relevant need and it is unique in adult education to date: The basic assumption, already stated in the project title, that every behaviour fundamentally makes sense, is linked to a principle of dialogue. This principle is central to the conception of the project, according to which, in order to improve the individual living and learning situation of people with intellectual disabilities/learning difficulties and behavioural problems, it is less important to treat or correct behaviour that is perceived as disturbing or disturbed, but rather to understand the reasons and causes of such behaviours in their respective contexts and their significance in connection with someone’s personal history.
A change in perspective and perception also promotes a change in basic attitudes toward this group of people, which in turn is an essential prerequisite for realizing their right to participate in society and social inclusion. Emphasis is placed on the comprehensive participation of the affected group of people and their environment: From the very beginning, this is the integral part of a participatory process with the aim of working out new opportunities for action and perspectives together with the people involved.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
