Programs in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe

Name of the organisation
    COLOMBO FRIEND-IN-NEED SOCIETY
    Jaipur Foot Programme
Address
    171, Sir James Peiris Mawatha
    Colombo 2
    Colombo
    SRI LANKA
    Telephone: +94 421651
    Fax: +94 421651
Key Person of the organisation
    Mudunkotuwage Karunasena, rehabilitator

This is mainly an organisation of persons with disabilities that is largely involved in the training and education of end-users, as well as in rehabilitation. These activities began 5-10 years ago, and are exclusively addressed to persons with disabilities. They also embrace the importance of training for independent living and for 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:

  • residential training courses, exclusively addressed to a target of persons with disabilities;
  • activities addressed to the individual, in the form of advice.

The compiler notes that AT plays a certain role in the activities addressed to the individual, which mainly concern the area of self-care.

TRAINING COURSES AND SEMINARS

Educational activities carried out over the past 5 years have been listed, and are generally described as follows.
Title of the initiative
Typology
Year
Duration
Number partic.
Target
Number teachers
Training of two prosthetists from Nepal in manufacturing Jaipur Aluminium Limbs res. tr. c.
1996
3 months
2
 pers. with disab.
3
Training two prosthetists from Bangladesh in manufacturing Jaipur Aluminium Limbs res. tr. c.
1996
3 months
2
 pers. with disab.
3

Selection

The courses were publicised through leaflets (sent to voluntary organisations) and advertisements in category journals. The participants were selected on the basis of territoriality, professional experience and personal interests. Teachers and tutors (selected with a preference for persons with disabilities) were chosen for their membership of the organisation itself.

Organisation

Activities took place both on and off the organisation's premises, where some attention was paid to general comfort; personal assistance was offered when needed.

Implementation

The lessons consisted in lectures accompanied by practice activities, in the form of individual use and presentation or demonstration of products. The choice of questioning and discussion as the two preferred pedagogical key-words suggests that special attention was devoted to the participants' quality of learning. Collection of personal impressions at the end of the course was used to gauge the participants' opinions.