Snakes and Ladders: A Case Study
Snakes and Ladders: A game of inclusion and exclusion
It’s not only school children who eagerly queue up for their turn at ‘Snakes and Ladders’, a multi coloured, life
size board game, full of twists and turns. Adults, too, are captivated with the concept.
The game is the brainchild of Fiona Strahan, RuralAccess Project Officer at Hepburn Health Service. Fiona
wanted to highlight the societal barriers which exclude people with a disability from community life and to find
strategies for how these can be overcome. The game challenges players in a non-judgemental, humourous
way to look at their own beliefs and behaviour as they move around the game using ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’
cards. ‘Chance’ cards create conversations that offer solutions.
A community arts framework was used to get the message across. ‘We had to be creative. We wanted people
coming into the game full of curiosity and wonderment,’ explains Fiona. To develop the project, partnerships
were formed that included Hepburn and Moorabool Shires, Neighbourhood Houses, Hepburn Health Service,
Arts Access, the Department of Human Services and Gasworks. By the end of the project, the network of
partners included local schools, disability service agencies and local people with a disability.
Funding from the 2004 Victorian State Disability Plan Innovation
Grants enabled the project to engage a community worker and art
teacher to take on the challenging task of turning the original idea
into reality.
‘We had to be creative. We
wanted people coming into the
game full of curiosity and
wonderment.’
Over 300 people, aged six to 70 from across Hepburn and Moorabool Shires, were involved in the creation of
the game. To create awareness of disability issues, personal stories, both positive and negative, were collected.
These form the basis of the questions used in the game. The making of the game itself was an artistic process.
Participants were asked to close their eyes and draw freely with their non-dominant hand. These designs were
then painted and laboriously stitched onto the board game.
Department of Human Services
Tanya Hale is one of several people with a disability employed to act as facilitator. She steers participants
around the board, sometimes in groups of up to 50. ‘I became involved in the project because I believe that
society needs to be more aware of people with disabilities and the struggles that we have to go through in
everyday life,’ she says. Tanya’s involvement has created opportunities for meeting new people, travelling to a
variety of locations to facilitate the game and being paid for her work. She has enjoyed her decision making and
leadership role in the game and says this led to her decision to take on further training with the Youth Disability
Advocacy Service.
Although initially unsure how they could bring such a big idea to fruition, Dawn Vassallo, a teacher at Myrniong
Primary School, says there have been many benefits for her and the school. The ‘Snakes and Ladders’ project
provided a creative outlet for the class to learn to be aware of other people in the community. ‘Boys are often
difficult to engage, so I was surprised to see how enthusiastic they were. The project gave them a reason to
learn to sew and to see the actual outcome,’ says Dawn. ‘There was such a proud sense of ownership when the
game was launched at Parliament House.’ Situated between Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat, Myrniong Primary
School is very isolated. Dawn says that working on the project helped to build the school community and
enabled students to work with other schools and community members.
The distance between schools proved a challenge, but the schools
cooperated with the larger Bacchus Marsh Grammar School offering to
bus the primary school students over for sewing sessions.
‘It has given RuralAccess a
community building and
educational tool able to be
targeted at different audiences.’
Throughout the project, there was a sense of children and adults working together to bring about change in
society. Everyone felt part of the solution by looking at themselves and realising that their attitudes and
perceptions can be hurtful to others.
Fiona says the game has been an unprecedented success, giving RuralAccess and disability issues a profile in
an innovative way. ‘It works because it involves experiential learning and has a fun, energetic element. Over
1000 people have played the game and we have had requests for ‘Snakes and Ladders’ from schools in
Queensland and South Australia and the University of California, Berkeley.’ ‘Snakes and Ladders’ has become
a bridge builder with other organisations. The rules and philosophy behind the game provide a template that can
be adapted for many other issues. ‘It has given RuralAccess a community building and educational tool able to
be targeted at different audiences,’ says Fiona.
RuralAccess is currently working with the Department of Planning and Community Development to develop a
business plan for the future. ‘Ballarat University carried out a qualitative evaluation on the project, which
showed we are on the right track,’ says Fiona. ‘If the game is to become commercial, we need to plan such
things as fee structures, wages, funding, product development and marketing.’
RuralAccess has received many offers of support from local business and is now looking for other partners to
take the project forward. ‘You know it is successful when you see others being passionate about the game and
proactively looking for other opportunities,’ says Fiona.
More information
RuralAccess Project Officer, Hepburn Health Service
Ph: (03) 5321 6567