Access For All

EDF has developed a Telecoms Package Toolkit to support the efforts to bring a real change for persons with disabilities to equally access e-communications. This Toolkit lists the provisions related to e-accessibility for persons with disabilities in the EU Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications Networks and Services (the Telecoms Package) and gives insights on how they could be understood to enable a full and common understanding throughout the EU. This toolkit is primarily targeted at EDF member organizations to enhance their capacity in following up on the transposition into national legislation and the implementation of the Telecoms Package; but, it could also be useful to anyone who wishes to better understand the disability-related provisions in the Telecoms Package. The toolkit is available on alternative format upon demand.
Download the toolkit

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established a Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.
Users of telecommunications and information technology have a varied capability of handling information and the controls of their presentation. The source of this variation lies in cultural and educational backgrounds, as well as on age-related functional limitations, in disabilities, and in other natural causes.
The Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability will facilitate interaction between relevant bodies, and ensure that ICT accessibility is included in the key debates around Internet Governance in order to build a future where all sectors of the global community have equal access to the Information Society. We are convinced that the entire community can benefit from an “accessible ICT world,” as people can be permanently or temporarily disabled due to personal, environmental (e.g., a phone call in a noisy environment) or cultural (e.g., spoken language diversity) conditions. Moreover, we will all grow old and lose abilities that we take for granted now, thus enlarging the part of the population that would benefit from accessible communication. We cannot allow isolation of a part of the population due to lack of appropriate functionality that prevents the use of ICT resources by everybody to the fullest possible degree.
The coalition is open to any organization entity or individual working on the field, including Standard Developing Organizations (SDOs), and i coordinated by Andrea Saks (TDI Telecommunications for the Deaf Inc.)

Official Web site: Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability

8th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies (ICDVRAT 2012)
Laval, France, 10-12 September 2012

First call for papers

• Extended abstract submission deadline: 29 February 2012
• Accepted papers submission deadline: 1 July 2012

For further information see: www.icdvrat.reading.ac.uk

The Call for Papers can be downloaded directly from: http://tinyurl.com/ICDVRAT2012

The first ever World report on disability, produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank, suggests that more than a billion people in the world today experience disability.
People with disabilities have generally poorer health, lower education achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is largely due to the lack of services available to them and the many obstacles they face in their everyday lives. The report provides the best available evidence about what works to overcome barriers to health care, rehabilitation, education, employment, and support services, and to create the environments which will enable people with disabilities to flourish. The report ends with a concrete set of recommended actions for governments and their partners.
This pioneering World report on disability will make a significant contribution to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At the intersection of public health, human rights and development, the report is set to become a “must have” resource for policy-makers, service providers, professionals, and advocates for people with disabilities and their families.

8th September – 15th September 2011
Objectives of the Training
The eight day intensive exercise is intended for Programme Managers of organisations and projects involved in development and disability work. The course is designed to equip the participants with appropriate attitudes, necessary knowledge and basic skills to initiate, monitor, develop and strengthen disability and development programmes apart from facilitating information exchange among participants. The participants will also be oriented towards Information Dissemination, Networking and Advocacy related to disability, development and CBR.

Participants
The workshop is targeted at middle and senior level professionals from the Government, NGOs, International NGOs and individuals interested in disability work. As the medium of instruction is English, fluency in reading, writing and speaking English is a necessary pre-requisite. The number of participants will be restricted to 25.

Faculty
Faculty comprises a team of distinguished professionals, practitioners, disabled activists and management experts

Curriculum
- Addressing social barriers: Analysis of Attitudes, Myths and Misconceptions and their impact on People with Disabilities.
- Basic Concepts, Perspectives and Approaches of disability and inclusive development
- Poverty – Disability & Development: Analysis of cause effective relation each other
- Inclusive education & Livelihoods
- Disability and issues of multiple Marginalization (Specific reference to Women with Disability)
- Disaster and Disability: introduction to disabled friendly and inclusive strategies in conflict and emergencies
- International and National policy framework
- CBR and inclusive Development, an approach to empowerment of persons with disabilities
- Participatory approaches in planning, implementation, monitoring, reviewing and evaluation

Pedagogy
The course will emphasize the use of participatory learning approaches and will have a fieldwork component. Lectures, group discussions, case studies and work analysis will form an essential component of the programme.

Course Fee
Foreign participant – $ 500
The fee covers simple food and twin shared accommodation. It also includes reading materials, training materials, local conveyance during field visits and certification.

Venue
The workshop is residential and all participants are expected to stay at the premises, where arrangements for lodging (on twin sharing basis) and boarding exist. Address of the venue will be sent to the confirmed participants.

Schedule
The workshop will commence on the 8th f September 2011. Participants are expected to reach the venue latest by 7th evening and can plan their departure on the evening of the 15th (after 6pm) or latest by the morning of the 16th. For extra days of stay, participants will need to obtain prior permission, and make payments independently. The training programme is scheduled at Bangalore. Training also includes fieldwork for 3 days with select NGOs in and around Bangalore.

The last date for receiving duly filled applications is 22nd July 2011.

For application and other details contact :

The Training Co-ordinator,
Actionaid,
No. 139, Richmond Road,
Bangalore – 560 025, India
Tel: 0091-80-43650650/647
Fax: 0091-80-25586284
Email: raghavendra.b@actionaid.org

About Actionaid
ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency whose aim is to fight poverty worldwide. Formed in 1972, for over 30 years we have been growing and expanding to where we are today – helping over 13 million of the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged people in 42 countries worldwide. We work with local partners to fight poverty and injustice worldwide, reaching over 13 million of the poorest and most vulnerable people over the last year alone, helping them fight for and gain their rights to food, shelter, work, education, healthcare and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.
In India today we work with more than 300 civil society organisations and over 12 million poor and excluded people in 25 states and two union territories. Our focus is on the rights of India’s most marginalised communities: Dalit and indigenous people, rural and urban poor, women, children and minorities. These groups face an acute lack of access to and control over resources, services, and institutions. We pay special attention to those in vulnerable situations such as people living with chronic hunger, HIV/AIDS or disability, migrant and bonded workers, children who are out of school, city-dwellers without a home, and people whose land or livelihood is under threat. We also work with women, men, girls and boys who have been trafficked, displaced, or hit by natural and human-made disasters.
People with Disabilities constitute one of our core constituencies. We believe in a twin-track approach which requires us to promote both disability specific and inclusive development initiatives towards the empowerment of People with Disabilities. We work on the premise that disability is a human rights and development issue that demands the state and civil society to provide adequate and appropriate space for people with disabilities.

Registration is open for the International Course on Disability & Development to be held at the VU University Amsterdam on Nov. 28- Dec. 23, 2011. Topics covered include: disability models and stereotypes, International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) conceptual framework, rights of people with disabilities, including the CRPD, and disability-relevant research methods, including survey methods.
Click here for further information.