The workshop “World Around World”, organized by the association Università Senza Età – Città del Trattato, took place in Campoformido (Udine) Italy from the 22nd to the 26th of April 2013.

The number of participants was 22 people, of which 14 were people with mental disabilities, 1 able-bodied/able-minded, and 8 were accompanying persons. The activities performed were meant to physically and emotionally engage people with disabilities coming from different countries (Spain, Italy, UK, Czech Republic and Slovakia) with the aim –which actually was really successful – to remove intellectual and psychological barriers regarding diversity. This aim was carried out through several laboratories:

• paintings and handmade creations with several materials;
• knowing your own body through the relation with other people;
• theatre therapy…and the resulting mise-en-scene of some pictures involving both people with and without disabilities.

During the last day, in the presence of a wide public, the participants presented what they had learnt and built through a touching theatrical performance.

The most meaningful element has been the naturalness of working among people with and people without disabilities: smiles and joy could appear on their faces, on the faces of those people who are often considered at the margins of our society because  believed to be unpleasant and unwelcome; instead, what arose among people with disabilities was the discovery and therefore the satisfaction of actually BEING ABLE to perform almost any proposed activity: all the handmade products were later used for the scenic design of the theatrical performance, and the paintings were displaying a particular kind of originality, which is not only a result of the protagonists’ fantasy, but of their sensitivity as well.