Matteo Parisotto is a 24-year-old European studies graduate from the University of Padova in Italy, and is a wheelchair user. He found taking part in Erasmus+ mobility programmes “challenging”.
In 2018, Matteo signed up for the 8-week Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Connect programme. This was an optional extra-curricular activity he could participate in from the comfort of his own home, with the aid of a lap-top and a decent wifi connection.
“I wanted to have a certificate to add to my CV” he explains, “but because I’m in a wheelchair, going abroad takes a lot more time to organise, and I didn’t want this to delay my graduation. I thought this Virtual Exchange activity would give me the opportunity of meeting students from other countries without actually having to travel. It seemed like a good solution".
Matteo graduated and in 2019 deepened his Virtual Exchange participation by signing up to ‘Countering Hate speech’, an interactive online course that explores the actions that can be undertaken to effectively counter hate and promote an open society.
The technology proved to be challenging at times, but “the tech support was really good,” says Matteo. The most challenging thing about this programme were the “attitudes towards hate speech” and Matteo found it difficult to explain his ideas to the group.
“At one point I felt like dropping out. But the facilitators were really supportive and persuaded me to stay. I used short videos to share my thoughts which helped us find common ground. I’m glad I stayed and my colleagues were very kind and took my opinion into consideration. The experience turned out well in the end.”
Matteo has pledged to continue to engage with some of the participants in spite of their differences.
“The most important things I learned were about the conflicts in Syria and the Palestinian territories”, he says, “and the issue of hate speech in Europe and the measures being taken by the different states to tackle the problem.”
He says his listening skills have been activated through his experiences in Online Facilitated Dialogue, and he applies what he has learnt through Virtual Exchange to inter-religious dialogue contexts. He’s keen to continue with Virtual Exchange activities and would particularly like to see an activity on the environment, linking to the activism of Greta Thunberg.
He’s hoping to help develop new ways for disabled people to take advantage of real life Erasmus mobilities, in collaboration with universities.
