The More Accessible Sauna Project
The More Accessible Sauna Project examined the obstacles and solutions to sauna use for people with disabilities, gender minorities and immigrants. The More Accessible Sauna Guide contains a concise information package on the journey towards a more accessible Finnish sauna culture. Guide was published in Uusi Sauna on November 27, 2024.
(in finnish only)
The More Accessible Sauna Guide is a discussion opening towards a more accessible Finnish sauna. The aim is to provoke thought and provide useful information on the changes needed in saunas and sauna culture. The guide explains how a sauna can be a safe social and physical space for different groups of people.
Accessibility benefits all sauna users. Many solutions are also relatively easy to implement – it is a matter of attitude and opening your eyes to how new potential sauna users or marginalized groups could be included. Saunas bring people together, create inclusion and help them integrate into society.
More Accessible Sauna Project
The aim of the More Accessible Sauna Project is to renew Finnish sauna culture in a way that respects tradition and takes into account different needs. The project explores how Finnish public saunas and sauna culture could be more accessible to people from different backgrounds and experiences. The project addresses accessibility from both a physical and a social perspective. Workshops were organised in the project during 2024, some of which also included sauna bathing.
The sauna project was coordinated by the Seurasauna Association in cooperation with the participatory urban planning office
FEMMA Planning Oy
. Other partners in the project were Amal ry, whose purpose is to support and promote girls' and womens wellbeing according to islamic values,
Kynnys ry
, a cross-disability organization, which focuses on the basic and human rights of persons with disabilities, and
Trasek ry
, which is an association for transgender and intersex rights.
