Programs in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe

Name of the organisation
    THE SWEDISH HANDICAP INSTITUTE
    International Secretariat
Address
    P.O. Box 510
    S-16215 VALLINGBY
    SWEDEN
    Telephone: +46 8 6201700
    Fax: +46 8 7392152
Key Person of the organisation
    Tomas Lagerwall, head of the International Secretariat

This is a central body dealing with AT for persons with disabilities; its main activities are: research and development, testing of AT, training, information and also rehabilitation.

Educational activities are mainly addressed to professionals but also cover the issues of independent living and obviously AT.

Educational activities began more than 10 years ago and those carried out over the past 5 years can be classified as follows:

  • 2 training courses, in residential form, addressed exclusively to a target of educational and rehabilitation professionals, together with technicians and administrative officers;
  • 10 seminars, in the form of monographic seminars and series of seminars, addressed to a wider range of professionals than was previously the case;
  • 6 information activities, mainly conferences and exhibitions, involving an extremely wide public;
  • activities addressed to the individual, in the form of advice and information services on which no additional information has been given.

The role played by AT in these initiatives ranges from little to great importance, probably in relation to the type of activity, target and content covered. In any case, almost all the areas related to AT are covered, including mobility, communication, hearing, vision, learning, reading/writing, general accessibility issues, self-care, etc.

TRAINING COURSES AND SEMINARS

The different training courses and seminars listed in the following table have also been described in general terms by the compiler, probably because of their similarity as regards the organisation and implementation processes.
Title of the initiative
Typology
Year
Duration

(in hrs.)
Number partic.
Target
Number teachers
Basic IT coursesres. train. course
1992
30
50
rehab. prof., educ. prof., technol. adm. off.
5
Various seminarsn/r train. course, top. work.
1992-1997
20/each
300
 rehab. prof., educ. prof., technol. adm. off.
10
Information and demonstration days with exhibitions n/r train. course, top. work.
1992-1997
25/ each
ca. 7.600
all possible
50/each

Selection

The organisation's initiatives are usually publicised through leaflets, distributed to a special address database, but also via the Internet and to special computer centres. Information is generally spread to user organisations, other organisations in the field, rehabilitation centres, and handed out at congresses and exhibitions.

The criteria adopted for choosing participants are age (adult) and type of impairment, even if all kinds of impairment are covered. Professional experience and personal interests are also taken into account. Teachers are chosen for their expertise and popularity, while no preference for teachers with disability is expressed.

Organisation

The initiatives took place in different places, both off and on the organisation's premises, and the main aspect taken into account in choosing the venue was overall accessibility. Organisation also included services like personal assistance when needed, assistance with travel reservation and accommodation for participants, coffee and lunch-breaks on site, recreational activities and welcome sessions. Participants paid a fee of SK 800 per day. Each teacher planned his/her lessons individually, but a co-ordinator was in charge of the whole activity.

Implementation

The preferred methods for delivering contents were traditional lectures followed by group discussions, with the addition of group work; learning by doing and good presentation are the pedagogical key-words selected. The educational aids used are overhead projection, software for content presentation, video and handouts for the participants, while the hands-on sessions took the form of presentation, demonstration and individual use of products. Information on the participants was collected via self-presentation during the opening day. Feedback from participants was collected through a final questionnaire, and the information used to readjust the initiative's contents and methods.

Further remarks

These days the Swedish Handicap Institute does not arrange many seminars and workshops. All these activities are now organised in Sweden by special computer centres that were originally set up by this organisation. In the future more activities in the field are foreseen, including Information Demonstration Days where participants can get a lot of information, educational activities (seminars, workshops), and exhibitions.