National ExchangeAbility

Coordinators

1. What is ExchangeAbility?

According to the European Commission’s statistics about the Lifelong Learning

Programme (LLP) Erasmus, during the academic year 2013/14 6000 students
with disabilities received a supplementary grant for their Erasmus study or
traineeship experience.
This represents 0.92% (a notable increase from the numbers in 2011/12 which
was the 0,14%) of the overall amount of both Erasmus students and trainees.
Although an increase compared to previous years has been observed, the number
is still exceptionally low.

1.1. Aims of the ExchangeAbility Project

1.1.1. Increasing the number of students with disabilities going on exchange.

The long-term vision of the project is to promote the opportunities and support
offered for students with disabilities to get an experience abroad.
ExchangeAbility works with ESN sections, Higher Education Institutions and
other NGOs’ experts in the field of disability and inclusion to create the best
conditions possible for students with disabilities during their stay abroad.

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1.1.2. Making ESN a more accessible association for students with disabilities at all levels of
its activities.

ExchangeAbility aims to raise awareness in ESN about mobility, inclusion and

education for students with disabilities and make ESN’s activities more
accessible for all students, thus helping them to benefit from the concept of
“internationalisation at home”.

1.2. MappED! (Rebrand of MapAbility)

In 2013, the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) applied for an international

activity grant from the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe for
a project called MapAbility: Mapping the Higher Education Institutions’
accessibility for students with disabilities.

MapAbility will not exist any longer as such; instead, it has been rebranded.
From now on we will refer to MappED! as the new tool of ExchangeAbility. It
was officially launched in October 2015. The project aims at mapping the
accessibility of European HEIs to students with disabilities.

More information about MappED! will be released throughout the year.

2. Wiki page

Don’t forget to use the Wiki! You can find a lot of useful information there:
different presentations, workshops and PR material. Our wiki page will answer
questions like the following ones:

 What is ExchangeAbility?

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  Why do we do ExchangeAbility?
 Why organise EA activities?
 To promote mobility to students with disabilities
 To raise awareness about disability among students without disabilities
 To map university campuses
 To train yourself in the field of disability
 To promote inclusive environments
 What exactly are EA activities/events?
 Raising awareness (for students without disabilities)
 Workshops
 Challenging your senses
 Promoting mobility (for students with disabilities)
 Presentations
 Conferences
 Mapping (students with and without disabilities)
 Organising mapping events during Orientation Week for example.
 Inclusive Events (students with and without disabilities)
 Regular events made accessible for all students - either on the Local or on the
National Level.
 Tandem Evening
 How to organise EA activities?
 Who are we and how to contact us?
 History of the project
 Presentations
 Workshops
It is highly recommended for you to take a close look at the ExchangeAbility
Handbook. Among other things, it contains information on how to address
different disabilities.

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3. Tasks of a National ExchangeAbility Coordinator

One of the first things you have to do when you get elected as a National
ExchangeAbility Coordinator is to approach the International Team and
inform them about your election. Then ask for a meeting with the team to be
updated about the news on the project as well as to inform the team about
the current status of the project in your country.

3.1. First Steps to take as National ExchangeAbility Coordinator

Here you can find a little checklist for a great performance as a National
ExchangeAbility Coordinator (NEAC).

 Creation of an Action Plan together with your National Board: you’ll

have a basis to start on and to perform your tasks as a NEAC
 Follow up on what is happening within the International Level and keep
your National Board (NB) and your Local ExchangeAbility Coordinators
(LEACs) informed. Remember that you are the link between the
International Team and your National Network! This is particularly
important when it comes to:
 International Events/Meetings
 Social Media Campaigns
 International ExchangeAbility Day
 Update your information in this spreadsheet

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 Represent ExchangeAbility within your country, for instance, promoting
the project during your National Platform:
 By delivering a presentation with the updates of the project
 Delivering Workshops and/or Small Sessions during the event in
order to increase the engagement and awareness among your
national network. Remember to check the Workshop package in the
Wiki or approach the team in case you need any new ideas!
 Approach all of your sections in order to motivate them to be an
active part of the project by electing a Local ExchangeAbility
Coordinator
 Keep up the motivation of your Local Coordinators and provide them
with the necessary information and tools to move forward with the project
within their local sections
 Having steering/welcome and follow-up Skype meetings is a
great way to stay up to date and check how are they performing in
addition to keeping them informed of what is going on
 Share materials and present the Wiki page
 It is also very important to add them to the Local
ExchangeAbility Coordinators Community Facebook Group
 As a National ExchangeAbility Coordinator, you should be able to
motivate and deliver constructive feedback to your Local
ExchangeAbility Coordinators
 Create a Mailing List (ML) and forward information through it
 Creating a Facebook Group for your coordinators is usually a
great tool to approach your coordinators with informal information
and to send reminders
 Create your own tools to be used in a national-wide ambit:
 Knowledge Transfer documents
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  For Local ExchangeAbility Coordinators
 For National ExchangeAbility Coordinators
 Groups and Mailing Lists to join when you start your mandate:
 National ExchangeAbility Coordinators Group
 Share your best practices with the rest of NEACs, ask for
suggestions and share any idea you may come up with!
 Local ExchangeAbility Coordinators Community
 Make sure all your LEACs are there!
 National ExchangeAbility Coordinators’ Mailing List
 This is the main information channel used by the
International Team to provide you with important and useful
information
 Be ready to join the Working Groups for National Coordinators!
 Currently there are 3 active Working Groups: Testimonials,
Guidelines & Events and Promotion.
 Promote the creation of National ExchangeAbility Events
 Example: Social Inclusion and Equality Weekend (SIEW), an event
organised by ESN Finland in 2015, bringing together Local
ExchangeAbility and SocialErasmus Coordinators. Funded by
ESAA.
 Join the National ExchangeAbility Coordinators Meeting (NEACM)
 Make sure that you have the ‘National ExchangeAbility Coordinator’ role
on Galaxy (contact your NB)
 Make sure the events organised in your country are registered in the
Event Registration System
 Promote the mapping of campuses by using the questionnaires that can be
found on our website!
 The map can be found on the website, (Hyperlinks here, and here).

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  Seek for opportunities with other Organisations or Disability Units
nationally or locally. You can also inform your LEACs whenever there
are funding opportunities, such as the ESAA Grant.
 In case you have any issues, always bear in mind that the International
ExchangeAbility Team is there to help and support you. Do not hesitate to
send them an email at exchangeability@esn.org!

4. Branding
Make sure to use the correct branding if you create any PR materials. You are
the reference for your LEACs!

ExchangeAbility Magenta (pink) EC008C - HEX, 236,0,140 -
RGB
 In case you have any doubts, approach the International Team to
make sure that your materials go with the the Project and ESN
International’s Visual Identity standards
 Use the materials provided by the Team as a reference when
creating new ones
 Use the correct spelling! ExchangeAbility / MappED! (not
exchangeability / mapped! / Mapped! / Exchangeability)
 Use hashtags correctly #ExchangeAbility #PinkPower
We hope that these short guidelines are helpful and will help you to keep up
your motivation and the great job you are doing. We are looking forward to
meeting you!

Best wishes,
The International ExchangeAbility Team,
Joanna, Nives and Pablo

Written by Pablo Guillerna Franco and Manuela Locci / Proofread by Henry Rauhanen and Annika
Selander / Edited by Nives Tomas

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