ASHOKA SWITZERLAND WELCOMES JONAS STAUB AS A NEW FELLOW

“An inclusive society has the power to change perspectives about established norms and standards. Once you have experienced inclusion, you understand it”

Ashoka Switzerland is very excited to announce that Jonas Staub, has been selected as a Fellow. Jonas is the founder of Blindspot, an organization that empowers people with and without disabilities and with a social impairment to participate actively and self-sufficient in everyday life. His commitment to create a more inclusive world in Switzerland and in Europe has made him an excellent candidate for our Ashoka Fellowship. 

For over ten years, Jonas Staub has been working to create a world of inclusion and diversity where every single person is empowered, regardless of their characteristics. Jonas’s activities started in 2004 by organizing winter and summer camps for both children with and without disabilities. Two years ago, he created the restaurant Provisorium 46 in Berne, where 35% of staff has disabilities. He has also been working with different institutions at a local, regional and national level, such as the Swiss Federal Office for Sports, encouraging them to adopt an inclusive approach in their work. Through diverse activities, Jonas wants to spread the idea that inclusion is easy and natural.

Becoming an Ashoka Fellow means a lot to Jonas. During the selection process, Jonas spent a lot of time trying to explain his innovative vision to the Ashoka Team:

“Ashoka is more than just a organization providing supporting entrepreneurs. They really wanted to understand my work and took a lot of time to understand my vision. At the end, Ashoka realized that was I was doing was clearly different and saw the potential of my organization to make the world more inclusive”

Going forward, his main preoccupation will be scaling. Since the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2016 by Switzerland, Jonas is looking for more co-creations and collaborations with different actors, especially in the private sector. For him, inclusion is not a “nice to have” anymore. It is now essential to spread the message that empowering and including people with disabilities is the new norm.