Programs
in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe
This is an umbrella organisation of self-determination centres in Germany, and its main activities are training/education for end-users, information/advice, providing services, pressure group activities and public awareness raising. Educational activities are exclusively addressed to persons with disabilities and obviously take into account the issues of independent living and the role of AT.
Educational activities began more than a decade ago, and those carried out over the past five years can be classified as follows:
AT plays a relevant role in the information
activities, where all the related areas are considered, but is
not cited at all for the other initiatives.
No titles of special initiatives have been given in the questionnaire. In any case, a general description of the organisation and implementation processes has been produced, so we shall refer to this.
Selection
Leaflets and category journals were the main channel of communication used to publicise the organisation's initiatives; a mail-out was done for those in the organisation's address database, but also to other user organisations, and information was handed out at congresses and exhibitions. No special criteria were adopted for choosing participants; there was a stress on impairment, but all impairments were covered. Teachers were recruited from within the organisation's staff and were chosen for their expertise. A preference for teachers with disability was expressed, and once again these are experts in the field who belong to the organisation's staff.
Organisation
The initiatives took place at different sites, both off and on the organisation's premises. Venue choice was mainly guided by the aspects of overall accessibility and accessibility of bathrooms. Lunch-breaks on site were organised. Participants were charged an enrolment fee to take part in educational activities. Teachers' preparatory meetings were held to ensure co-ordination of the whole process.
Implementation
The preferred approach is centred on active participation, which
is fostered through group discussion, group work, brainstorming
sessions and role-playing. This is also reflected in the two key-words
chosen to describe the pedagogical strategy, namely discussion
and interactivity. Traditional educational aids were adopted while
no hands-on session was done. Information on the participants
was collected from self-presentation during the opening day, and
is used to readjust contents and methods on the basis of the real
target. Feedback from participants was collected through a final
group discussion as well as by gathering personal impressions,
and the latter information was used to readjust the initiative's
contents and methods. Follow-up was conducted in the form of interviews.
Mrs. Dinah Radtke is the organisation's head of foreign affairs.
The organisation belongs to the Independent Living movement, and gives a special meaning to those words that is linked to the national experience. In fact, in Germany the expression independent living has been substituted by "self-determined living".
ISL is an umbrella organisation for self-determined living, founded in 1980 by eight persons active in the German disability movement; they participated in the formation and development of liberating disability work, contributing to the establishment of numerous Centres for Self-Determined Living in Germany.
The goals of the organisation are on the one hand to nurture existing counselling and information centres, and on the other to foster the establishment of new centres. Other objectives include promoting the concept of "self-determined living for disabled people" and the development of a geographically comprehensive network of independent empowering counselling centres for disabled persons enabling them to lead independent and self-determined lives in the community.
ISL works closely with ENIL (European Network on Independent Living) and is affiliated with DPI (Disabled People International).
The centre in Erlangen mainly conducts information and peer counselling activities, but the interviewee and other members are also trainers in courses for counsellors in Germany. This activity is mainly organised by BIFOS, a German institution for research and training regarding self-determined living.
In both activities a strong accent is placed on self-determination of persons with disabilities, and the importance that they themselves are in charge of all possible aspects related to disability. Accordingly, professional intervention is always considered as external and intrusive, and activities such as information, advice and counselling must be provided by persons with disabilities themselves.
In addition, differences within the group of disabled persons must also be considered in order to find the right solutions for each individual: this applies to disabled teenagers, but also to disabled parents, and disabled women. Counselling addressed to a disabled woman will be more effective if done by another disabled woman, following the principle of identification. Similarly, the issues of "independence" and "partiality" in counselling work are settled by clearly stating that only partial counselling can be effective, that is siding with the person with disability.
This institution runs many different courses, the most original being meetings for disabled parents and courses for women counsellors, where the special theme of women is introduced and stressed within the more general activity of peer counselling.
The teachers are persons with disabilities who may also happen to be psychologists or educationalists, but this is not a prerequisite for becoming a peer counsellor or trainer within these courses.
Contents of the Course
The course for peer counsellors lasts 6 full weeks, and covers
the following programme.
Experience on yourself
The course for women counsellors is divided into three modules,
as follows.
METHODS OF COUNSELLING
Independent counsellor, partial counsellor
Identification
Methods of counselling
CONTENTS OF COUNSELLING FOR WOMEN
Intimacy and sexuality
Sexual violence and sexuality
Disabled women and work
STRUCTURAL CONDITIONS FOR COUNSELLING WORK
Structural conditions
Work organisation and financing
Networking and support