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This website is about the project "VägVisaren". The project is trying to make it possible for people who are visually imparied or blind to practice the sport Orienteering.

Down below is a short summary of the project application. A lot has happend during the first 1½ year and if you are interested in knowing more about the project, don´t hesitate to contact the project manager:

tomas.yngstrom@gmail.com

Summary of the application for the project VägVisaren:

"ORIENTEERING - a sport, an important part of the subject Physical Education in school and a leisure activity - also for people with visual impairment"

With this project, we want to give children, young people and adults with visual impairments the opportunity to practice the sport orienteering, to create conditions for these students in school to achieve a passing grade in the subject of Physical Education by passing the orienteering part and finally to show how to find and discover their local area / school area and, all this with the help of tactile maps. People with visual impairment have never experienced the sport orienteering. The same people today also have worse opportunities than sighted students to pass a passing grade in the subject of Physical Education. These are two things we want to change. However, there are currently no conditions and aids for these people to understand and be able to use tactile maps.

Background
At present, as far as we know, no development of tactile maps is carried out for the purpose of conducting the sport orienteering as a leisure activity or in the subject of Physical Education in schools. There is also a lack of aids for people with visual impairments to understand and be able to use tactile maps to be able to find their way in unknown environments. During the years 1978-1997, Arne Yngström worked to make the sport orienteering accessible to the disabled people and disability groups, such as people with reduced mobility, the mentally handicapped and the visually impaired. This is the heritage we want to explore and develop.

Purpose
* To give children, young people and adults with visual impairments the opportunity to practice the sport orienteering, such as a sport and leisure activity.

* To create conditions for students in the school to receive a passing grade in the orientation part in the Physical Education.

* To give the opportunity to people with visual impairment to find their way/ "see" in their immediate area / school area with the help of tactile maps.

Target group
People with visual impairment.

Goals
* To make orienteering available as a sport for people with visual impairments.

* To spread the knowledge about tactile maps as a tool for teachers in the school.

* To make people with visual impairment be able to "see" their surroundings and find the right to unknown places.

Innovative and developing
* To create a completely new sport, Orienteering for people with visual impairment. Orienteering as a sport provides opportunities for lifelong sports and we want to create conditions for people with visual impairment to take part in this.

* Create conditions for students with visual impairment to be able to participate in the orientation part in the subject Physical Education in school on the same terms as sight and thus be given the opportunity to pass a grade in the subject.

* With the help of the map, to give people with visual impairment the opportunity to expand their immediate area and discover more in already known environments, to make the tactile map their "personal companion".

Survival
Creating a network and spreading knowledge about the possibilities with tactile maps in the country within both school and society is an important part of making the project survive.

The Swedish Orienteering Association (SOFT) will have a central role in the work of spreading the sport Orienteering for people with visual impairment to other orienteering districts. The methodology and the material developed in the project can be implemented by SOFT in existing regulations and training. SOFT can take responsibility for an Orienteering Weekend in collaboration with local Parasports Associations being arranged annually and traveling from district to district over time. In this way, knowledge is brought out into the country and enables the project to survive.

Within the project's third year, methodology and materials will be handed over to SOFT and thereafter become part of SOFT's organization. Suitable with a non-profit working group, similar to those that exist today and works well for Ski-O, MTB-O and Trail-O.

Future goals / vision:
- That the Swedish Orienteering Association arranges the first Swedish Orienteering Championship for people with visual impairment.

- That our "new" sport is spread in other countries.

- That international championships are arranged.

- That our "new" sport will be included in the Paralympics.