Access For All

The overall aim of the completed LLP project ‘web_access’ is the development of a distance learning programme with regard to national diversity at a European level in the field of accessible web design (AWD). It summed up to a Europe-wide unique academic training programme and was designed in an accessible way to enable access by as many people as possible, including people with disabilities.
Evidence has shown that there is a growing need for the creation and maintenance of websites at European and national level which are truly accessible and in conformance with agreed and emerging international standards. This issue also needs to be addressed through more formal education and training. The target groups (web designers, students/graduates in computer sciences and related fields of study, and those who have achieved equivalent knowledge and skills, especially people with disabilities) should be trained in both the requirements for and the techniques to achieve fully accessible websites.
More information on the project website.

The Project ImPaCT in Europe – Improving Person Centred Technology in Europe, a networking project in the field of ICT co-financed by the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme, is conducting a survey to assess the use of Person Centred Technology across Europe. The data gathered will be used by the partnership to map the current situation and to to evaluate and promote the benefits of PCT for people with disabilities. The survey is brief and user friendly and is available in English, Portuguese, Finnish, French and Dutch. People with disabilities, service providers, policy makers at all levels, researchers and manufacturers of PCT who are interested in the work carried out by the partnership are invited to contribute.

Within the framework of the project “Learning Lab for Integration” financed under the Lifelong learning Grundvig programme, a database has been created to provide good practice examples on how people with disabilities can be helped to return to the labour market, integrate society, learn and acquire new skills.

You are invited to add your ideas, projects or organisation and so promote them to professionals all over Europe for free. Click here for direct access to the database.

You can now download the enhanced Code of Practice (CoP) for Mentoring in English, Bulgarian, Dutch and Turkish. This CoP (the result of the Validating Mentoring 2 project) is mainly addressed to managers and developers of mentoring programmes. It will help them to critically review their systems and how they work, while also helping them to improve their quality and/or gain external recognition. It will equally be very useful to those planning new mentoring programmes, through the advice about good practice that it provides and by the links it offers to other resources. But such first-time developers are not its main target audience. The CoP is also designed for use by the staff of organisations that provide mentoring programmes. Indeed, an important principle of our approach is that as many of the staff team as possible will participate in the self-assessment process. By contributing to the process staff will bring their own knowledge and expertise and learn from their colleagues while helping to improve their own practice and the performance of the programme overall. This CoP does not address all types of programmes that sometimes are called ‘mentoring’ (see Section 4 for guidance about the nature of ‘mentoring’). It has been developed initially to meet the needs of NGO’s, small training organisations, and others sharing their approach. The term mentoring is often used, for example, to cover aspects of professional training and coaching, where formal reporting requirements may constrain freedom of choice and confidentiality. Though the CoP may have limited applicability to mentoring programmes of this kind, it should still provide some useful guidance and valuable stimulus for self-reflection. The crucial first step, as for all mentoring programmes, is to carefully consider and define the particular goals of the programme and to understand the particular requirements that such goals impose.
Downloads are available at the newspage of the project website.

In order to assess the use of Person Centred Technology (PCT) which includes all ICT and EAT devices, the ImPaCT project launched an online survey (http://easpd.hft.org.uk/). The gathered information will then be used by the ImPaCT in Europe project team to evaluate and promote the benefits of PCT for people with disabilities.

Completing the questionnaire should not take too long, and your inputs will be invaluable!
In case of questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Miriana Giraldi.