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ID BOOKLET | WWW.SALTO-YOUTH.NET/INCLUSION/ & WWW.SALTO-YOUTH.NET/DIVERSITY/
PERCEPTION & YOUNG PEOPLE Why do we suggest to you to work with young people and their perceptions? We believe that it is vital for young people and youth workers (and everybody else) to be conscious of the coloured glasses that we are wearing. The way we see and interpret things is quite logically different from other people’s perceptions, because they were ‘programmed’ differently. So difference is normal! On the other hand we also stressed that our (and other people’s) behaviour, perceptions, values,… evolve with time. So it is possible (and even likely) for people to change over time. This leads us to the conclusion that it is limiting to pin people down on one thing they once did. If a person once was uncomfortable with others from a different culture, gender, sexual orientation, disability,… this doesn’t mean that they will always be. People have the capacity to change and it is also possible to actively work towards becoming more open and comfortable with difference. People can change! An important message that youth work could give to young people, is that within these different approaches to life, one is not intrinsically better than the other. Often we think that our way of doing is the best, so all the others must be stupid or inferior. However one culture is not better or worse than another – they just provide different answers to the same challenges in everyday life. When young people are able to see things from different perspectives (of other groups) not only does it widen their horizon, but it also gives them a more varied set of possible answers to the challenges they meet in their lives. Learning to see things from different sides makes them more creative! So if we know that diversity is a fundamental part of our society (impossible to avoid it), it is beneficial for young people to learn how to deal with this diversity. The ideal situation would be that they don’t just tolerate difference, but that they see the inclusion of people from different origins and groups in their circle of friends and in their lives as an enrichment. It leads to new and interesting discoveries, it allows them to learn different things, it stimulates their creativity,…