Pitch Perfect: building safer spaces with words (and cards)
Pitch Perfect: building safer spaces with words (and cards)
Pitch Perfect, short for “enhancing psychologists and counselors’ communicative skills towards LGBTQ people with illustrated playing cards”, is a small-scale Erasmus+ project that has developed over nearly 24 months across Italy, the Netherlands, and Europe.
Coordinated by Close in the Distance, a small independent association based in Italy and at its first experience with Erasmus+, in partnership with the Dutch foundation Stichting Art. 1, the project focused on inclusive language and communication in educational, social, and psychological work with lesbian, gay, trans, intersex, and queer people.
All project activities focused on words, but never in isolation from context, images, relationships, and the asymmetries that often shape interaction. Whether in education, care, mentoring, or support settings (and also in workplaces, families, and other social environments), the way we speak, welcome, name, ask, or remain silent makes a real difference.
Words Matter — The Manual
We wrote this manual, now available in three languages (English, Italian, Dutch), with listening desks, tutoring services, schools of all kinds and levels, and socio-healthcare settings in mind. These are often the first spaces where LGBTIQA+ individuals encounter barriers, misunderstanding, and exclusion, even in their earliest interactions.
The text combines theoretical reflection (starting from a review of the current conditions of LGBTIQA+ people in Europe) with inclusive critical-operational methodologies particularly suited to the field of lifelong learning and transversal, civic competencies — those not tied to professionalisation, but useful for, potentially, any adult citizen.
The manual includes narrative glossaries, practical suggestions, case studies, and exercises, always with an eye to replicability and adaptability across contexts.
It is not designed to teach "how to speak properly", but to offer tools and questions that help us understand how language itself produces or prevents inclusion, often in subtle and implicit ways.
We tried to balance theoretical accuracy and linguistic accessibility, because we believe that even a clearly written and well-translated page can be an inclusive gesture.
Queer Quest — An Illustrated Card Deck
Alongside the manual, we created a different, visual approach to talk about identity, roles, expectations, bodies, and relationships.
The deck, made of 25 illustrated playing cards, is inspired by role-playing culture, character creation, online queer artivism, and everything that allows people to imagine and represent themselves beyond norms.
Each card includes a character, a title, and a short line of text. There are no fixed rules. They can be used in group settings, individual conversations, or simply left on a table as a visual gesture that signals a space is consciously inclusive and queer-friendly.
The kit includes a practical guide featuring exercises and activity formats, mostly experiential and designed for non-formal education contexts. All resources — cards and guide — are available in English, Italian, and Dutch.
Handouts for Educators and Facilitators
We also created additional materials for those who wish to use the manual and the cards in training and learning contexts: handouts, prompts, and flexible activities meant to support the sustainability of the project outcomes after its formal end.
Where to find the resources
All materials are available for free on the project’s website: https://www.closeinthedistance.com/en/progetti/pitch-perfect
For easier access, you can simply scan the QR code included in the banner of this blog entry.
Disclaimer
Pitch Perfect is the acronym of "enhancing psychologists and counselors’ communicative skills towards LGBTQ people with illustrated playing cards".
Its project code is 2023-1-IT02-KA210-ADU-000152439.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
