EUROPEAN
COMMISSION - DGXIII 
Programs
in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe
This deliverable presents the findings of the
research carried out within Workpackage 4 of the EUSTAT study. The main
objective of this work was to identify, classify and describe existing
examples of educational programs in Assistive Technology (AT) addressed
to persons with disabilities and the elderly.
A survey was carried out at international level by means of a questionnaire
(D04.1) designed in accordance with the findings of Deliverable D03.2,
"Critical Factors in End-Users' Education in Relation to AT".
In addition, some on-site visits were made in order to collect further
information and insight about a number of outstanding programs based on
different approaches.
The intention was not to compile an exhaustive inventory covering the whole
world, which would not have been possible on EUSTAT resources, nor to evaluate
programs on the basis of pre-defined criteria of good practice. As this
was the first survey ever done on this subject, the purpose was to gather
a meaningful sample of mainly European Union experiences in AT education
presently underway. This offers the basis for understanding current approaches,
methods adopted, and expected trends.
One of the first findings was that there is a large and ever-increasing
number of organisations that are seriously taking into account the issue
of AT education of end-users, and so are organising specific initiatives
to those ends (courses, seminars, information days, etc.). These bodies
are sometimes user groups or organisations, sometimes professional organisations
or rehabilitation centres, sometimes mixed entities. In some cases, the
initiatives are entirely organised and led by end-users, in others they
are run in partnership with professionals, and in yet others are led by
professionals. They may be monographic (i.e. exclusively focusing on AT),
but more often AT education is delivered as part of wider programmes aimed
at more comprehensive objectives like rehabilitation and social integration,
development of personal autonomy, qualification for receiving social benefits,
independent living and self determination, and peer counselling/training.
Another notable finding was that the terminology used by those active in
the field is far from being standard. The meaning associated to keywords
like independent living, autonomy, independence, rehabilitation, education,
training, etc. often differs from one country to another. This may well
be due not only to the semantic bias associated to language translation,
but also to differences in cultural heritage linked to local legislation,
service delivery organisations, and the level of end-user involvement in
policy development. What's more, there is still little communication between
the promoters of the various programs. Hence, the myriad of different perspectives
often makes it difficult to compare programs originated in different contexts.
Conversely, a common feature throughout is the liveliness of the programmes,
the wealth of ideas, the willingness to self-evaluate and improve, the
interest in experiencing new ways of doing things. Many respondents welcomed
the questionnaire as an opportunity for self-reflection about their activities
and for discovering that other methods exist. A widely shared objective
seems to lie in the strong accent put on change in the individual rather
than just providing information and knowledge. This suggests that the environment
is very dynamic, open and promising.
This deliverable is intended as a basis for the following developments
of the EUSTAT study: a manual for AT education of end-users, and guidelines
for courses devoted to user empowerment in relation to AT. However, it
is also a tool for those involved at any level in AT education, since it
provides an overview of a wide range of experiences and offers interesting
input for their activities; it is therefore to be considered a public document.
The intended readership mainly comprises:
a) the organisations who participated in the study
by filling in the questionnaires;
b) the other European projects on AT within the Telematics programme;
c) user organisations;
d) health or social services providers involved in education, training
and rehabilitation.
This document is divided into in six parts:
a) Chapter 1 clarifies the background, describes
how the survey was carried out, and offers an overall picture of the results
and the main conclusions that can be drawn;
b) Chapter 2 contains a detailed section-by-section discussion of the data
obtained from the survey;
c) Chapter 3 reports on the seven programs analysed on the basis of both
the questionnaire and an on-site visit, and each is described in detail;
d) Chapter 4 reports on the 87 programs analysed solely on the basis of
the questionnaires, and each is described in fact sheet form;
e) Chapter 5 presents all the data from the questionnaire in graphical
form (histograms and pie charts);
f) the Annexes contains the questionnaire and a directory of all the organisations
contacted, 163 of whom filled in the questionnaire.
A downloadable version of this document, as well
as a hypertext version designed for easy information searching, is available
on the Internet at http://www.siva.it/research/eustat.
