Programs
in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe
An organisation of persons with disabilities whose main activities are: training/education, information/ advice and research. The educational activities, which began 5-10 years ago, are exclusively addressed to persons with disabilities and cover independent living and coping better with disability, as well as the role of AT.
The educational activities carried out over the past 5 years can be classified as follows:
The role played by AT is always very important, and almost all the areas related to AT are covered; for example, mobility, communication, hearing, vision, learning, reading/writing, general accessibility issues, employment, household activities, etc.
The courses and seminars have been listed in the detailed table below, but only one general description has been filled in; it would appear that these activities are similar from the organisation and implementation points of view.
Peer counselling groups are located throughout the country and
consist mainly of groups of people meeting on an equal level to
discuss a certain matter and exchange views. Through 4 courses
on the Internet, FDDB has educated a number of deaf/blind people
to be "worker representatives", i.e. people who organise
and start PC groups, organisation work, etc.
| ||||||
| Text-telefon kursus
(Text-telephone courses) | res. train. course | pers. with disab. | ||||
| Tillidsmands kursus
(Worker representative courses) | res. train. course | pers. with disab. | ||||
| Døvblinde kursus
(Deaf-blind courses) | res. train. course | pers. with disab., elderly | ||||
| n.n. (other courses) | res. train. course |
Selection
Leaflets, posters and advertisements in other journals were the channels for publicising the initiatives. Information was sent out to the organisation's address database, but also to user organisations, handed out at congresses and exhibitions and by word of mouth. Participants were selected on the basis of their type of impairment (auditory, visual, deaf/blind), while teachers came from the organisation itself but were also chosen on the basis of their expertise and by habit. A preference for teachers with disabilities was expressed, and they were selected according to the same criteria cited for the other teachers.
Organisation
The training course took place off the organisation's premises, in a space set up especially for the purpose, paying special attention to overall accessibility, comfort and aesthetics Organisation was comprehensive and included personal assistance when needed, coffee and lunch breaks, as well as welcome and farewell sessions. Co-ordination between teachers was ensured by a co-ordinator, even though each teacher planned his/her own lesson individually.
Implementation
Lessons were prevailingly lectures with group discussions supported by software for content presentation. Presentation, demonstration and use of products formed the basis of the hands-on sessions. Practical aspects seem to have a certain importance given that the two key-words chosen to identify the strongest pedagogical idea are learning by doing and simulation. A certain amount of information on participants was collected and used both to improve contents and methods of the same initiative and to reflect on the organisation's overall educational activity. A final guided discussion together with personal impression gathering formed the basis for feedback, which proved useful for deciding changes in the future. Follow-up was done through a questionnaire, direct contact and interviews.