#YellowReykjavik Project 2017

I welcome you all to Iceland and hope that you will all have a nice and yellow stay.
Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much said Helen Keller, and that is the truth.
Therefore is it so meaningful to see you all, come together from different countries and join hands in our common cause „to make the world a better place for all “
Only the future can tell in what direction this event will develop,
I´m confident that you will succeed here in Reykjavík the next couple of days.
But I also hope that you all will go ahead next year and the years to come and bring the message to other countries and different cities.
The need for raising awareness of our inevitable right to have decent accessibility is prevalent all around the world.
Doing it together, working as a cross country team, is more efficient. Because it is a fact that „The whole is greater than the sum of its parts “.

And now when you are all yellow, it is relevant to draw your attention to the color yellow.
Yellow is the color of the sun and is commonly known as an optimistic and cheerful color.
However, it is said to be scientifically the most difficult color for the eye to take in. Think about it.

Do you know what “Code yellow” means? According to Wikipedia is code yellow, at least in Hospital emergency plans, a message announced over a hospital’s public address system alerting the staff about, and the need to prepare for, a pending emergency or external disaster–e.g., multi trauma, major effects of storm, etc.”

„We all live in a yellow submarine“ said the Beatles, and that’s what you are now, the crew of the yellow submarine, ready to emerge from the deep and let everyone hear your call.

I guess you all know the song “Yellow” by Coldplay. The band wrote the song for their debut album PARACHUTES. And how appropriate is that, now when you are handing out a kind of an accessibility parachute to the community of Reykjavík.
This song can mean so many things to so many people and so does your work. And it is almost like the song was written about your work of yellowing Reykjavík.

“Yellow”
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.

I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called “Yellow”.

So, then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all yellow.

And now it’s your job to continue and make Reykjavík yellow.
I declare “CODE YELLOW” Reykjavík stay allert.

These are the words used by Sigþór U. Hallfreðsson, chairman at
Blindrafélagið, samtök blindra og sjónskertra á Íslandi // Icelandic Association of the visually impaired.
to introduce the workshop.

The international team, mostly composed by young adults from the Nordic countries, spent some time so that everyone could learn each other name and nationality.

One of the main Icelandic newspaper dedicated an article to #YellowRejkyavik

DAY 1 – GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER – THEORY DAY

• Introduction of the project and organisational information,
• Inroduction of Blindrafélagið
• The ideology of NoisyVision
• Ground rules
• Fears and Expectations board

• Sharing experiences: what is it like to be partially sighted in different countries
• Aids we use: apps and devices
• Understanding accessibility, what is good accessibility, comparing the situation between countries
• Introduction of the venues for the exploration day, dividing into groups, what do we do in the town, preparing the material we take with us, explain Exploration chart
• NoisyVision film: #YellowTheWorld Everest Edition

DAY 2 – EXPLORATION DAY

DAY 3 – ACTION DAY – YELLOWING REYKJAVIK

DAY 4 – TREKKING

CONCLUSION

#YellowReykjavik
#YellowTheWorld
#GulumReykjavik
#gottadgengi