Our engagement

We encourage critical thinking with a focus on civic engagement and respect for human rights. Through accessible workshops and services, we aim to raise awareness in the broader society about relevant social issues, with an emphasis on minority groups and environmental concerns. We also organise activities where we provide participants with tools to advocate for their rights by teaching them how to protest and lobby. We achieve this in three ways: by providing and disseminating information, raising awareness, and fostering consciousness.

We operate on the principle of ‘nothing about us without us.’ We do not talk for minorities but listen to them and learn from them. For example, all training on deafhood is taught by deaf people. Any training about deafblind people is given by deafblind persons. When it comes to LGBT+ topics, we ensure that the trainers themselves come from the LGBT+ community.

Why do we do this? Minorities often have limited role models to look up to: how often did you have a teacher with a disability? How many movie characters are black? You will likely have to look quite a while before finding any.

Not recognising yourself in leaders or people in the media affects the way you view yourself and your opportunities. Therefore, at Empoway, we choose to provide them with a platform. This allows our participants, who might not recognise themselves with mainstream figures or leaders, to see themselves in our trainers. Our trainers become role models and have a positive impact on our participants.

With Empoway we want to create a space where everyone feels at home and safe. The themes of our workshops and activities will primarily focus on the groups of which we are a part. This does not mean that we consider other groups to be less important, but rather that it is not our place to speak for them. We seek to expand our organisation and provide a space for new members from diverse backgrounds.

Ultimately, we recognise that individuals do not belong to just one group and do not have a single identity. We are all siblings, grandparents, children, students, employees, deaf individuals, women, heterosexuals, transgender people, middle-class individuals, immigrants, etc. We have diverse identities that shape our experiences. For instance, a deaf father experiences fatherhood differently than a hearing father. At Empoway, we wish to embrace the identity and experiences of each and every one of you.