Programs
in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe
An organisation of persons with disabilities, but also a provider of health and/or social services. JAG is mainly involved in care, providing services and pressure group activities. Educational activities began less than five years ago and embrace the importance of training for independent living and the role of AT. These activities are exclusively addressed to personal assistants/helpers and persons with disabilities.
The educational activities carried out over the past five years can be classified as follows:
AT plays a relevant role in these initiatives, while the mostly commonly considered areas are: health maintenance, general accessibility issues, communication, mobility, vision and hearing.
This organisation's residential training courses mainly comprise
the same course repeated over the years, but it is interesting
to note in the table below the differences from one edition to
the next one. Obviously, a single description has been given to
cover all of them.
| Duration
(in hrs.) | ||||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. | ||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. | ||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. | ||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. | ||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. | ||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. | ||||
| Assistenkurrs
(Course for personal assistants) | res. train. course | pers with disab., pers. assist. |
Selection
This training course was publicised exclusively via letters sent out to organisation members, who may wish to suggest that their personal assistants attend the course. No traditional criteria for choosing participants are adopted, but rather they are selected on the basis of the disabled person's decision. Teachers are chosen on the basis of their professional expertise and popularity. A preference for teachers with disabilities is expressed, and these are selected according to the same criteria, but also considering the type of disability.
Organisation
The initiative took place at various sites found especially for the purpose; when selecting the venue special attention was paid to comfort, overall accessibility and accessibility of bathrooms. Numerous services were provided for participants, such as assistance with travel reservation and accommodation, coffee and lunch breaks, recreational activities, welcome and farewell sessions. A co-ordinator ensured coherence of the whole initiative, while each teacher planned his/her own lesson individually.
Implementation
The most commonly adopted method for content transmission was lectures, together with role-playing. Overhead projection and video were used, while hands-on sessions were based on presentation and demonstration of products. Good presentation and questioning are the two key-words chosen to describe the preferred pedagogical approach, and this is congruent with the implementation choices.
No information on participants was collected, while a final questionnaire is used to gather feedback, and this information is used to readjust contents and methods of the next edition of the same course. No follow-up was done.
Further remarks
A future change in initiative typology in foreseen, as the organisation
would prefer to move from residential courses to a mixture of
courses and seminars.
The President of JAG, Mrs. Gerd Andén, has played a great
part in the history of the Swedish Independent Living Movement,
making a major contribution to the rights for persons with disabilities.
The word "JAG" in Swedish means "I" or "me". Hence, the stress is on the fact that members of JAG are users of personal assistance who are subjects, individuals, and not (as before) objects of care. In Swedish, the acronym JAG also stands for "equality, assistance and integration", immensely important for JAG's members.
One part of JAG is an association that works in areas related to personal assistance and disabilities, while the other part is a co-operative of users of personal assistance. JAG asserts its ideological adherence to the Independent Living Movement.
Membership is reserved to persons with severe multiple disabilities that include some kind of cognitive disability. Others can become supporting members, without having the right to vote.
In the early seventies, some parents of children with multiple disabilities formed a working committee within the Swedish National Society for Persons with Mental Handicap. This committee, lead by Mrs. Gerd Andén, fought to convince the Swedish government of the need for personal assistance for persons with cognitive disabilities. A few years later some municipal social service offices began to provide services in the form of personal assistance.
With the introduction of assistance reform in 1994, a large group of persons with multiple disabilities were granted the necessary funding for their assistance, and JAG grew rapidly.
The organisation now employs more than 900 assistants, producing over 800,000 personal assistance hours per year (the majority of JAG's adult members need assistance 24 hours a day).
Due to their cognitive impairment, JAG's members are unable to organise and supervise their own assistance, therefore each member has a deputy supervisor chosen by the member through a legal guardian. The duties of the supervisor are set out in a contract between the supervisor, the member and JAG.
JAG runs two different types of education for personal assistants. The first is instruction/introduction of a new personal assistant. No special qualifications are needed to become a personal assistant in Sweden and responsibility for employment lies solely with the person with disability. Consequently, a new personal assistant of a JAG member has a strong need both for information and practical expertise. This can be gained by working together with an experienced assistant, often for as long as 4-6 weeks full time. This intensive training is made necessary by the complex needs of disabled persons and their very personal way of communicating. Introduction to the member can be made by the supervisor. When a personal assistant is employed, a contract is issued which stipulates administrative matters, but also ethical and professional aspects such as privacy and respect; on his/her part, the person with disability cannot for example refuse the use of technical aids that may make the personal assistant's work easier.
The second type of educational activity comprises programmes for further training of personal assistants arranged by JAG. This activity is greatly appreciated by members, and over the years the courses have increased in topics covered, frequency and number of participants. The course held in October 1997 involved 200 participants plus 20 members.
These are mainly residential training courses in which seminars on different topics are offered simultaneously, and so at the outset personal assistants have to decide their own programme of participation. JAG members, their deputy supervisors and their parents are also invited along and take an active part in the proposed activities. On-site accommodation is usually offered, and recreational activities are also organised.
The funds for education available to each JAG member can also be used at the member's discretion to finance education arranged by other organisations. The deputy supervisor helps the member to decide what, if any, further training the assistant needs.
The aim of the courses is to give assistants greater knowledge and understanding of disabilities and how to deal with them. JAG members express a continuous need for further training and supervision for their personal assistants. Last but not least, the assistants require constant reminder of what personal assistance means in terms of attitudes, respect, integrity and privacy.
In all the course lasts four days, covering one module a day.
Topics are proposed by JAG to a specialised service within the co-operative itself which is in charge of organising and detailing the course. These subjects are chosen with the intention of giving personal assistants the widest possible information about daily life with the person with disability. They cover areas often neglected by mainstream medicine, for example dental care, feeding a person with multiple disabilities, etc.
JAG's senior members are proud that the selected teachers include some of the leading specialists in various fields related to the type of impairments which affect JAG members: neurologists, psychiatrists, physiotherapists, etc. Consideration is given to the ability of these experts to communicate with a large public and their popularity in the disability field is also taken into account. For example, one very popular lesson is given by an author who is very good at stimulating interest, focusing energies and raising awareness.
In the last two editions, most teachers were asked by JAG leaders to take a different pedagogical approach, namely to include more practical sessions, hands-on sessions, role-playing and group work. This was decided because it seemed crucial to stress the practical side of training, in order to bring about change in the habits in personal assistants more effectively.
Another recent decision concerned the distribution of a final questionnaire to collect impressions from the participants. The questionnaire is very detailed, asking the compiler to rate each lesson of the course on a score of one to five. This information is then used by the educators to gauge the general effectiveness of their activities, but also to evaluate participant satisfaction about each lesson proposed.
Contents of the Course
The program of the last course (1997) was divided into four modules. AT does not play a specific role within one lesson or group of lessons, but is rather dealt with throughout the topics, whenever possible. This entails not just technologies for motor impairment, but a wide range of systems.
Special activities were organised for members and deputy supervisors
that were chiefly aimed at solving work and interpersonal problems.
In 1997 these special sessions covered the following topics:
while the general program was as follows:
DAY ONE
Personal assistance according to JAG
The locomotion apparatus
The importance of vision for communication
The importance of playing
Autism
Computers, Internet and multimedia
Communication through signs and pictures
Auditory impairment and developmental deficit
Personal assistance in school and daily-life activities
DAY TWO
Personal assistance as an instrument of communication
Personal assistance according to a person with disability
Cerebral trauma: neuro-psychological aspects
Diet
Independence from and dependence on assistance
Communication
Epilepsy: adults
Epilepsy: children
Being seated in a wheelchair
Independent living
DAY THREE
Personal assistance according to JAG
Functional motor therapy
Computers for children and teenagers
Tactile stimulation
Guiding technique
Dental care
Aids for breathing
Medical follow-up for adults
Personal integration
DAY FOUR
Role distribution and conflict resolution during personal assistance
Music therapy
Eating
Aids for communication